Burbon Cream Biscuits

For the Biscuits:

3½ tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons soft light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoons golden syrup
1¾ tablespoons plain flour (1 cup plus 1 3/4 TBS)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (not the drink mix).
pinch salt
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 to 2 teaspoons milk
golden caster sugar for sprinkling

For the filling:

3½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sifted icing sugar (generous half cup)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder, sifted
1 to 2 tsp bourbon (or vanilla extract)

Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ Line a baking sheet with baking parchment paper. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the golden syrup until smooth. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt and soda together in a beaker. Sift this into the creamed mixture. Add the milk a bit at a time, until yo uget a soft even dough. It should be a bit crumbly, but should have the promise of holding together. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about a minute, until it comes completely together. Roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin about 1/4 inch thick. (I rolled mine out onto baking parchment so that I did not have to use a lot of flour.) Cut out into rectangles. If you like you can dot holes into the dough with the end of a skewer. Sprinkle with caster sugar and then carefully lift onto the prepared baking sheet with a metal spatula, leaving some space in between the biscuits.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the filling, cream the butter together with the icing sugar, cocoa powder and enough bourbon to give you a fluffy evenly coloured mixture. Spread a heaped teaspoon onto each of half the baked biscuits and then top with another one, pressing down lightly. Repeat until all the biscuits are filled. Store in an airtight container.

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