Coffee Biscuits Sandwiched with Whipped Coffee Chocolate Ganache
I could of course, have easily made the biscuit mixture by hand and if I’d done so, I’d probably have creamed the butter and sugar together as suggested in the original recipe. However, I’d just made some pastry in the food processor, so it seemed sensible to use it for these biscuits as well. Given that coffee flavoured bakes are low on my list of favourites, I was very pleased with these. The biscuits were good, crunchy and buttery with just a hint of coffee, but the ganache was a complete revelation. The method used to make it produced a very light almost mousse-like cream, which knocked spots off buttercream: I shall definitely be using this method again. The coffee flavour was quite strong, but brought out other flavours without overpowering proceedings. These are perfect Valentine’s biscuits, why not treat the coffee lover in your life to some on February 14th.
With the Valentine theme very much in mind when making these biscuits, I’m submitting them to Calendar Cakes with Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes. The theme this month is, strangley, lurve!
For much the same reason I’m submitting them to a Valentine themed Tea for Two with Homemade by Fleur. Fleur has a teapot and mugs Red Cornishware set which I am very keen to get my hands on and which she is giving as a prize to whoever Holly (of GBBO fame) thinks has put in the best entry – fingers crossed!
For no good reason, other than I made these from scratch and JW is always appreciative, I’m also submitting these to Made with Love Mondays.
Classic French, a monthly challenge hosted by Jen of Blue Kitchen Bakes has the theme of ganache this month, so I am making my debut entry with my whipped coffee and chocolate ganache.
- 100g wholemeal spelt flour
- 100g of plain white flour.
- 100g vanilla golden caster sugar
- 100g unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp strong cooled coffee
- 50g milk chocolate (40%)
- 40ml strong cooled coffee
- 90ml double cream
- Place all ingredients except the coffee into a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Or rub butter into dry ingredients by hand.
- Add coffee and pulse again. Or if making by hand, stir in with a knife
- Bring mixture together with hands to form a ball.
- Place in a plastic bag and leave for 1/2 hr or so in the fridge to firm up.
- Roll the bough out to just under 1/4 cm thickness.
- Cut out heart shapes.
- Re-roll off cuts and carry on cutting until all the pastry is used up and you have 40 biscuits.
- Place on 2 baking trays lines with silicone mats or baking paper and bake for 10 minutes at 180C.
- Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water.
- Add coffee to the bowl one third at a time stirring hard after each addition until all incorporated and smooth.
- Add cream and stir until incorporated.
- Place in the fridge for three hours.
- Use electric beaters to whip the ganache until peaks form.
- Spread the ganache over half of the biscuits and sandwich the remaining biscuits on top, to make 20.
Janice Pattie
9th February 2013 at 7:54 pmWhat a nice idea, love the little hearts and the full on coffee flavour is very much to my taste.
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:33 pmThanks Janice, my coffee loving friends really enjoyed them.
hungryhinny
9th February 2013 at 8:26 pmThese look so good as I am a massive coffee lover! I especially like the sound of the ganache, I wouldn’t normally make one with milk chocolate but I can imagine the coffee would cut through the sweetness…
How long do you reckon these would keep? I’m looking for something I can make on Monday but take into work on Wednesday!
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:36 pmNat, if you make the biscuits and ganache separately, then you can sandwich them together before you go to work. I had the last one three days after I made them and they were fine, but a bit soft.
hungryhinny
10th February 2013 at 8:06 pmSounds like a plan, hopefully I will have time tomorrow night to bake them!
Gloria
9th February 2013 at 11:46 pmthese look beautiful!! Love them!
Choclette
10th February 2013 at 11:46 amThank you Gloria
Katie
10th February 2013 at 8:03 amThey look lovely and delicate and buttery and oerfect for giving to a loved one. I like how the biscuit and the filling is coffee flavoured, gives them a lovely golden colour
Choclette
10th February 2013 at 11:48 amThanks Katie. These were polished off by several loved ones as I had friends over for a coffee tasting, but that’s the nice thing about biscuits, you can spread the love 😉
Laura Loves Cakes
10th February 2013 at 11:12 amWhat cute little biscuits and they’re perfect for Valentines! I love the combination of the coffee and the whipped ganache…these I can only imagine would taste delicious!! Re Eat Your Books…do you find it worthwhile, I like the idea! I also like the sound of creating the Manhatten Skyline out of biscuits! Thanks for entering these into Calendar Cakes 🙂
Choclette
10th February 2013 at 11:52 amThanks Laura. I find Eat Your Books really useful and use it quite a lot, both for baking and general cooking. You can look for recipes with a specific ingredient, or a type of recipe or both, eg lime tart. The downside is, a lot of my cookery books haven’t yet been indexed, so it only covers about half of my collection at the moment, but it is adding to it all the time and there is an option to index them yourself.
The picture I have in the book of the biscuit Manhatten is impressive.
Fuss Free Helen
10th February 2013 at 1:16 pmWe are hugely enjoying the Pura coffee too, although I have not done anything apart from drink it!
Lovely biscuits, and thanks for the reminder about JW’s Made With Luv, I always forget it, and must submit something!
Choclette
10th February 2013 at 7:49 pmThanks Helen, the coffee is good. There are far too many challenges out there now and I can’t keep up with most of them.
The Caked Crusader
10th February 2013 at 4:21 pmI am related to several men who will adore that coffee chocolate ganache! Your biscuits look ace
Choclette
10th February 2013 at 7:50 pmThanks CC, send them over 😉
Javelin Warrior
10th February 2013 at 4:23 pmThese are so adorable, Choclette, and I love the whipped coffee ganache filling! What a perfect treat for Valentine’s Day and I love the presentation of the hearts in a circle… Thank you so much for sharing!
Choclette
10th February 2013 at 7:51 pmThanks JW. I shall be using that whipped ganache for all sorts of things now, it’s heaps better than buttercream.
laura@howtocookgoodfood
10th February 2013 at 7:57 pmWell I know I would love these being the coffee lover I am. I think these sound perfect and I have also been making a whipped icing myself this week. Mine involved white chocolate though! Maybe this will convert you to a coffee drinker, d’you think??!!
Choclette
12th February 2013 at 7:55 amHaha Laura, it’s not that I don’t like drinking coffee, I just don’t like it that much, so don’t see the point of it. We’ll have to start a campaign for whipped icing, light and airy is the way to go 🙂
Miss C Flash
10th February 2013 at 8:05 pmI really want to make more biscuits, and am definitely more inspired after seeing your beautiful biscuits. I love coffee and I think this would be heaven on a plate x
Choclette
12th February 2013 at 7:57 amThere’s something about having a tin full of biscuits, not that the tin stays full for very long 😉
franglaiskitchen
10th February 2013 at 9:48 pmThese sound so lovely. I think the idea of the coffee ganache is a great one. This seems perfect as an afternoon pick me up treat I think
Choclette
16th February 2013 at 9:08 amThanks Nazima, not being much of a coffee lover, I surprised myself by just how good I found them.
Alida
11th February 2013 at 11:38 amThese rustic delicious biscuits are great with coffee or tea. I’d love to dip them into my coffee… mmm I can almost taste them! Very nice Choclette.
Choclette
17th February 2013 at 8:07 pmThank you Alida. Good idea, I wish I’d tried dipping one now,
Maggie
11th February 2013 at 3:06 pmI’m a huge coffee fan and these would be fabulous with a morning coffee.
Choclette
17th February 2013 at 8:11 pmThanks Maggie, it makes me feel I should have coffee mornings more often.
Susie @ Fold in the Flour
11th February 2013 at 8:35 pmI really love the sound of these, especially with the coffee ganache. Lovely bake. 🙂
Choclette
17th February 2013 at 8:13 pmThank you Susie, they have quite changed my mind about coffee flavoured biscuits.
Kim Carberry
14th February 2013 at 11:30 amThese sound delicious!! Very cute too 🙂
Choclette
17th February 2013 at 8:14 pmThank you Kim. You saw them on the right day 🙂
Paula Hart
17th February 2013 at 3:10 pmMy hubby would love these..coffee addict that he is! I LOVE the sound of that whipped ganache I bet it was amazing! 🙂 x
Choclette
17th February 2013 at 8:15 pmThanks Paula – the whipped ganache was amazing and I have used the technique again already.
Debs Dust Bunny
20th February 2013 at 5:57 pmThese look so delicious and pretty! Nothing is much nicer than the combination of chocolate and coffee.
wayne smith
22nd February 2013 at 8:51 amThese sound divine !!
Laura Harris
Perky
28th February 2013 at 7:24 pmRight up my street! Love coffee cream flavours!
anthony harrington
8th March 2013 at 12:41 pmthese are really making me hungry!
Jen Price
8th March 2013 at 5:55 pmCan’t believe I didn’t get round to commenting on these sooner. They look fantastic and I think the ganache filling sounds like a really good idea. Thanks for entering into Classic French and I’m happy I provided you with the inspiration. It’s great that us bloggers can all pick up ideas from each other and then create our own unique dishes from them.
Angie Hoggett
29th April 2013 at 12:02 pmThanks for this these look scrummy!