These Chewy Ginger & Peanut Caramel Brittle Cookies would make a great handmade Christmas gift.
MAKES: 12 sandwich cookies
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Chewy ginger biscuits:
3 cups / 450g plain flour
²⁄₃ cup / 65g Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp each table salt, mixed spice & ground cinnamon
250g salted butter, softened
¾ cup / 165g soft brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup / 120g caster sugar
½ cup / 125ml golden syrup
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
Peanut caramel brittle filling:
250g Whittaker’s creamy milk peanut & caramel brittle chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup / 125ml cream
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 170°C regular bake. Grease and line two large baking trays with baking paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and spices together. Set aside.
3. Add the butter and both sugars to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric beater, beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Add the golden syrup and beat again on high speed, until combined. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat again on high speed, until just combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients. With the beater on low speed, beat together until it is incorporated and the mixture forms a soft dough. Do not over-mix the dough.
5. Roll heaped tablespoons of the dough into balls, then place on the lined baking trays spacing them about 5cm apart (it should make about 24 balls). Using your finger tips, squish the balls of dough down into a round puck roughly 1cm thick.
6. Bake the cookies, in batches, for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are crackled and puffy. Tap the tray on the bench a few times as soon as they come out of the oven to deflate the cookies. Set aside to cool on the tray for about 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. For the filling, add the chocolate and cream to a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, then whisk together until the chocolate has completely melted. Set the ganache aside in the fridge to cool until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
8. Sandwich two cookies together with a spoonful of the peanut caramel brittle filling, then place into the fridge to set.
9. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
