MIT MATS
Here’s our ode to the classic Australian Tim Tam biscuit, with loads of chocolate: chocolate cookies, creamy chocolate frosting and a chocolate ganache centre. Who wouldn’t love it?
MAKES 12 BISCUITS
CHOCOLATE BISCUITS
320 g (11¼ oz) pastry flour, sifted
80 g (2¾ oz) Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
120 g (4¼ oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted
240 g (8½ oz) butter
a pinch of sea salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Rub together the sifted flour, cocoa, icing sugar, butter and salt to a fine crumb. Add the egg and mix as little as possible to bring the dough together. Wrap into 3–4 manageable portions and chill in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours; the dough will easily keep for several days.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºC/Gas 4). Line two baking trays with baking paper. Roll out the dough to about 3 mm (1/8 inch) thick and cut into 24 oblongs, about 3 x 10 cm (1¼ x 4 inches) in size.
Place on the baking trays and bake for 10 minutes. It is difficult to tell if the dough is cooked, so gently try and move the biscuits on the tray; if they move easily, remove from the oven and cool on the tray.
TO ASSEMBLE
1 quantity of creamy vanilla frosting
½ quantity of ganache
450 g (1 lb) dark chocolate, chopped
50 ml (1½ fl oz) vegetable oil
Make the frosting and add 50 g (1¾ oz) of the ganache.
Pipe a strip of frosting along each edge of half the cooled biscuits, then pipe a strip of ganache through the centre and pop a lid on top. Leave to firm for about 30 minutes.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of just simmering water, ensuring the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Add the oil and mix until fully emulsified.
Submerge the biscuits in the melted chocolate one at a time, draining off any excess, before placing them on a lined tray to set. (Despite all the new-fangled gadgets that are available nowadays, we still use a table fork to do this, as anything a little better will more than likely end up in Matilda’s play box, never to be seen again.)
The biscuits will keep in an airtight container in a cool dark place for up to 1 week.
