Frohe Weihnachten! Part 1: Sandwich Biscuits

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you the first part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits!

Last year I planned on doing a whole series of German-inspired Christmas biscuits, but I never got the opportunity. So, this year I'm gonna put that to rights! I'm kicking off the season of biscuits with a delicious selection of sandwiches.

This is just a show-and-tell because making biscuit sandwiches is something pretty much any home cook can make. You just choose your favourite buttery cut-out biscuit recipe, like shortbread or plain biscuits, make some tiny cut-outs, and fill them with some icing, ganache, caramel, or jam.

As you can see in this picture, I made a variety of shaped tiny biscuits: these are only about an inch (2½ centimetres) or so wide and about quarter of an inch (5 millimetres) thick, and I have hearts, fluted rounds, snowflakes (even though they look like stars), flowers, and bells. I made a small batch of biscuit mixture of 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar, 3 ounces (85 grammes) salted butter at room temperature, half a medium egg, and 6 ounces (170 grammes) plain white spelt flour. I flavoured it with vanilla essence and almond essence. This amount made about 48 biscuits, or 24 pairs. One pair was sacrificed to quality control before filling....

Each shape was supposed to have a different flavour of filling inside, but after a few biscuits that went out the window. I used chocolate buttercream, lemon curd buttercream, vanilla buttercream (using real vanilla pods), some Araquipe dulce de leche (yes, it's still leftover since my brother got back from Ecuador in August), and some good old fashioned strawberry jam.

After a little trip in the fridge, I dipped the tops of every flavour bar the caramel and jam ones in chocolate. I mixed a little sunflower oil into some white and dark chocolate, and some vanilla seeds into the white chocolate. Once I had dipped some of chocolate-filled ones in dark chocolate, and all the vanilla- and lemon filled ones in white chocolate, I marbled the remaining chocolates together to dip the remaining chocolate filled ones. I dusted the lemon ones with edible gold dust just for visual interest.

So there you have it! A special little treat for someone special in your life this Christmas, or even just for the table after dinner. Keep an eye out for the next few creations! :)