Easter Treats #2...

...Chocolate Whirls...this is another recipe taken from my 500 Cookies Book...This one was my choice...the smallish people have chosen a different recipe to make later this week for their Easter Treat...

These sounded a bit like Chocolate Viennese Whirls to me, and with it being the Easter Holidays, and Viennese Whirls being a favourite here I guessed these would be a shoe-in...

To start you get the oven on at Gas 4/175c...


...Then you beat your butter (225g unsalted) and sugar (50g icing) until nice and pale and creamy...then stir in some melted dark chocolate (25g)...I used 30g!!


...now as this was a piped biscuit, and following on from my experience of the Melting Moments and Swiss Cakes...I softened my butter quite a bit in the microwave first...


Then you get all the dry ingredients and sift them into a bowl...plain flour (225g), cocoa (2Tbsp) and cornflour (3Tbsp)...all this is then tipped into and mixed into the sugar and butter mix...

...This should leave you with a not toooooo stiff mixture that can be popped into a piping bag and used to...

...pipe rosettes onto lined baking trays...spread them a little bit apart, and don't make them too big...you should get about 36 rosettes if you pipe them small enough...


...as you can see, my piping needs heaps of practice...plus the dough is tricky to work with, as it is quite a dry mix...(that's my excuse anyway!!)

This was one of my better ones!!!

Pop them in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, and then once they've firmed up a wee bit transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely...


The cakes underneath them are for my Carroty Cake Muffins...

...Once completely cool, you can sandwich together...


...the filing is made from beating together unsalted butter (50g softened), icing sugar (190g) and melted dark chocolate (30g)...but when I tasted it, it wasn't quite right...

...so I added 3 Tbsp sifted cocoa, 1 Tbsp nutella and 2 Tbsp milk...which made it much creamier, and easier to work with...

...of course, you may have a filling that you love already, and want to use that...in fact next time I think I may try just nutella in a few...


...to serve, lightly dist with icing sugar...


...these are great as an after dinner biscuit with coffee (instead of a big pud!!) or just as an 11 o'clock snack with your mid-morning tea or coffee!!!