Coffee kisses

I made these biscuits this morning. The recipe suggests sandwiching them together with buttercream, but as mine came out of the oven slightly (ahem!) different sizes and they tasted great on their own I left out the buttercream. They are quite light and deliciously chewy - although need to see what they're like tomorrow, that's usually a good test of quality in my cooking!

Anyway, my aunt visited today, tried one of the biscuits, and said 'oh, these are nice. I used to make some like this, called coffee kisses. I used to sandwich them together with buttercream!' Brilliant.



175g self-raising flour
100g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1 egg

(plus buttercream if needed)

Preheat oven to 170C/160C-ish fan/325F/gas 3.

To make the dough in a food processor, put the flour and sugar into the bowl and pulse a couple of times to just combine. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Dissolve the coffee in 1 teaspoon boiling water. Beat the egg until frothy and mix in the coffee. Pour into the processor and run the machine until the dough just comes together.

Tip the dough onto a work surface and divide into 16 pieces. Flour your hands well, then shape each piece into a neat ball. Arrange them well apart on the prepared baking trays (covered with greaseproof baking paper) and bake in the heated oven for 12-15 minutes until light golden and firm to the touch.

Leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Use the buttercream to sandwich together in pairs.