Your Own Bourbons.

Making your own Bourbons....’WHAT?’ I hear you cry, ‘WHHHHHY would I do such a thing?...waste such time when a shop bought Bourbon is more than acceptable?’. And yesyes, I know it does take longer to make a batch than it does to pick them up off the shelf but I would never condone the effort of making something that doesn’t give you pleasure over and above that which you would gain from ripping open the plastic packet of a supermarket equivalent.

(Oh oookkk I would, because for me, baking for the sake of baking, makes life better...but I promise I would tell you if buying rather than baking had minimal impact on your eating enjoyment and that you should only attempt the homemade version in pursuit of the pleasure from the process...this post on homemade flaky pastry is a case in point).

So yes, a shop bought Bourbon, dunked in you tea, is a treat. But if you have a spare bit of time and want a real, from your own kitchen, pride inducing treat that you’ll want to share with your nearest and dearest, you could do worse than these chocolatey and, in fact, very Bourbon-ey biscuits.

They honestly are easypeasy and imagine how brill it would be if the vicar came round and you could offer homemade Bourbons (okok, I doubt you’ve got the vicar coming round anytime soon, does that even happen anymore? But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared). With Love and Cake.

Bourbon Biscuits.

From Cakes, Pastries and Bread by Jennie Reekie.

A few notes:

• Make these as big or small as you want really, they would be very cute as sort of a 'nibble' size. I made mine sort of 'Bourbon sized' and so that's how I'll instruct you.
• Don't believe what they tell you about all the things that stop syrup being sticky-to-your-spoony...basically syrup is sticky, so I find the best way to keep it in check is to use a spatula to get it from soon to bowl.

Makes about 15

You will need

a baking sheet, lined with greaseproof

For the biscuits

50g butter, at room temperature

50g caster sugar

1 tbsp golden syrup

100g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

15g cocoa powder

For the filling

25g milk or dark chocolate, depending on your taste, chopped or in chips

1.5 tbsp water

50g icing sugar

• Are you ready? Get your oven preheating to 170°c.
• Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk or wooden spoon until it's light and fluffy and airy looking.
• Beat in the syrup to combine.
• Now sift in your flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold through with a metal spoon until you have a chocolate brown, fairly stiff dough.
• Roll the dough out thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut into rectangles about 2.5x6cm.
• Transfer the biscuits to your baking sheet and gather up the left over dough.
• Keep rolling out and cutting up until it's all used up.
• Prick the biscuits a few times with a fork for that authentic Bourbon styling daaarling and baking for around 15 minutes, until just starting to darken.
• Leave the biscuits to firm up on the baking sheet for a few moments and then transfer to a wire wrack to cool completely.
• Now to make the filling.
• All you need to do is melt the chocolate and water together, either in the microwave being careful to check regularly or over a pan of simmering water.
• Sift in the icing sugar and whisk together until you have a lovely paste.
• Pop in the fridge for a while, an hour or so, so it an cool an become a spreadable consistency.
• When the biscuits are 100% cold and the paste is ready, spread it over half the biscuits and make lovely chocolate biscuit sandwiches.
• Dingdong....vicar calling.