Vanilla Biscuits Sandwiched with Vanilla Chocolate Ganache
When Karen over at Lavender and Lovage chose vanilla as the ingredient for this month’s We Should Cocoa, I knew immediatley I wanted to make biscuits. Vanilla is such a sweetly fragrant spice and it somehow seems to become more potent when combined with sugar in biscuits. Sandwiching the biscuits with a rich chocolate vanilla filling was no sooner thought of, than executed.
It was no accident that I flavoured the biscuits I made to accompany last week’s raspberry syllabub with vanilla. A vanilla pod, vanilla sugar and a dusting of vanilla powder, made for a potent mix. The heady scent soared out of the biscuit tin as soon as the lid was prized off. Keeping CT away from said biscuit tin was a task too great for me and they disappeared rather faster than I had envisaged. I made the ganache with dark chocolate, cream, a little butter and homemade vanilla extract. It tasted good just on its own, as well it might; but paired with the biscuits, it was a true taste sensation.
As we’d already chomped our way through some of the biscuits, I ended up with twenty to make ten vanilla chocolate biscuits. The recipe below is for eighteen.
- 200g flour (half wholemeal, half plain white)
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g vanilla sugar (I have a jar of golden caster sugar permanently on the go in which I place scraped out vanilla pods)
- 1 vanilla pod
- 4-6 tbsp Chardonnay wine
- Vanilla sugar powder for dusting.
- 100ml double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar (see above)
- 100g 70% dark chocolate
- 20g unsalted butter
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (I use homemade)
- Cut the butter into pieces and rub with flour and sugar between your fingers , or pulse in a food processor, until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and stir into the mix. The scraped out pod can be added to your sugar jar.
- Add 4 tbsp (or more) of wine and stir in with a knife. It should be just damp enough, so that when you bring the mixture together with your hands, it comes together without breaking up, but is not wet.
- Gather the mixture into a ball with your hands, cover and leave to rest in the fridge for half an hour.
- Roll out on a floured board to about ¼ cm thick and cut out shapes with a small cutter (about 4-5 cm in diameter).
- Place on two lined baking trays and bake at 180℃ for 12-15 minutes or until the biscuits are just starting to turn a pale golden colour.
- Leave for a couple of minutes to firm up, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Dust with vanilla sugar.
- Dissolve the sugar in the cream over a gently heat, then bring to a near boil.Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.
- Leave for a couple of minutes for the chocolate to melt, then stir gently until just combined.
- Add the butter and again leave for a minute or so to melt.
- Add the vanilla extract and gently stir until everything is just combined.
- Leave for a few minutes until thick enough to spread. Top the inside of 18 of the biscuits with a teaspoonful of ganache, then gently press the other 18 biscuits on top.
- Leave for half an hour in a cool place to set.
I am sending these off to Karen over at Lavender and Lovage who is kindly hosting We Should Cocoa this month. As already stated the theme is vanilla and these biscuits are very vanillary.
They also go to CakeyBoi for Treat Petite. He is celebrating his blog’s 3rd birthday and Eurovision’s 60th. To mark the occasion we are all to make something which has a connection to one of the participating countries. As ganache is decidedly French as is Chardonnay, I am entering on behalf of France. Kat is his partner in crime over at The Baking Explorer.
The theme for this month’s Biscuit Barrel challenge is Party as there are birthday celebrations over at The Lass in the Apron. Embibed with wine, these biscuits are perfect for a celebratory party. Happy Birthday Alexandra.
Other vanilla chocolate biscuit recipes you might like
Cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate chip cookies
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy
11th May 2015 at 7:48 pmI would want to put that ganache on everything. These look really good 🙂
Choclette
11th May 2015 at 8:27 pmThanks Dannii. Luckily, you are a lot more restrained than me 😉
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche
11th May 2015 at 9:04 pmThat ganache look amazing! And sandwiched between two biscuits – absolutely lovely 🙂
Choclette
12th May 2015 at 8:03 amThe biscuits were delicious all on their own some Becca, but they were transformed into something even better with the ganache.
Stuart Vettese
11th May 2015 at 9:11 pmOh yum – yes please! You know my sweet tooth and these would hit the spot perfectly!
Choclette
12th May 2015 at 8:04 amThanks Stuart. Sadly their are none left or I’d send you one over 😉
Diana
12th May 2015 at 7:23 amI love ganache! And vanilla, I add vanilla to most of the things that I bake haha these biscuits look very yummy
Choclette
12th May 2015 at 8:05 amThanks Diana. I use a lot of vanilla too, but I rarely make it the star of the show – so glad I did here.
Jo of Jo's Kitchen
12th May 2015 at 12:22 pmPlease save me one! They look gorgeous
Choclette
12th May 2015 at 5:20 pmI’m thinking I might need to make some more Jo, they disappeared rather too quickly.
Emma @ Supper in the Suburbs
12th May 2015 at 12:55 pmThat ganache sounds dreamy! Perfect biscuit filling 😉
Choclette
12th May 2015 at 5:21 pmThanks Emma, I did tell everyone I hadn’t given up on chocolate 😉
Sarah Maison Cupcake
12th May 2015 at 1:56 pmThe only thing that beats a biscuit is two biscuits sandwiched together with something yummy!
Choclette
12th May 2015 at 5:21 pmHaha Sarah, my thoughts exactly 🙂
Melissa
12th May 2015 at 4:43 pmThese look really delicious! I’m a big fan of biscuits 🙂 need to make some soon!
Choclette
12th May 2015 at 5:09 pmThank you Melissa. I’m rather thinking I might need to make some more 😉
Glamorous Glutton
12th May 2015 at 9:50 pmGreat way to use a really delicious ganache. Fab biscuit, fab filling. GG
Choclette
13th May 2015 at 8:04 amThanks GG. It was really nice to have the contrast between the vanilla biscuit and chocolate ganache.
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry
14th May 2015 at 9:17 amI agree with Dannii’s comment. I need that ganache on everything.
Choclette
14th May 2015 at 9:52 amYou’ve got me imagining ganache on scrambled eggs, roast potatoes and on salad now Bintu!
Phil in the Kitchen
14th May 2015 at 9:21 pmI know that vanilla is sometimes thought of just too everyday and boring as a flavour but it’s a wonderful thing and these sound like wonderful biscuits. Around ten years ago there was a bit of a movement in restaurants to add vanilla to just about any savoury dish you could think of. Sometimes it worked but I don’t have happy memories of the vanilla mashed potatoes.
Choclette
15th May 2015 at 9:09 amI am guilty of this Phil and tend to add vanilla just because that’s what you do rather than a flavour in its own right. I really enjoyed it being the star of this particular show, though I think I might balk at the mashed potatoes.