Equinox Biscuits

I was going to have a rant about Easter, that xian jollification of torture, human sacrifice and political iniquity which has annexed the Spring festival symbols of eggs and hares to disguise its blacker history but really, what benefit does it produce?

It's time to celebrate the spring and these egg shaped morsels are sweet and lovely, so think happy thoughts and allow the sun back into your life.



These are just little shortcake biscuits, sandwiched together and dipped in chocolate. Preheat the oven to 160C and have two clean baking sheets handy. This quantity makes enough for 24 biscuits which become 12 sandwiches, and few bits to nibble.

You will need 185g of vegan margarine creamed with 60g icing sugar. Add a teaspoonful of vanilla extract and mix in well.

Sift together 185g white wheat flour and 60g cornflour. Add this to your margarine and sugar mixture and mix to combine. It should mix in nicely in just a few moments no matter how unlikely it appears at the beginning.

Using two teaspoons take small portions of the mix and use the spoons to shape the biscuits as if you were making quenelles of your favourite sorbet. You can use your hands but it's sticky and you don't want to add too much extra flour. Place each shaped bit of dough on a tray, spaced quite far apart. They don't spread much but it would be awful if they stuck together.

Bake for 15/16 minutes until just beginning to colour on the bottom. They will still be soft as they come out of the oven but will crisp up as they cool. Don't overcook.



When they cool sandwich together with some butter (margarine) icing, some water icing, some chocolate spread, your favourite jam, whatever. I used some rather lovely sweet chestnut puree but it's really up to you. Use just enough to stick the two halves together or it will squidge out unattractively.



Melt some chocolate. This is always described as hard work with a double boiler but I have good results using a microwave. 100g chocolate will take about a minute and half but check after a minute. If it's not completely melted it can usually be stirred to reduce the last few lumps to a smooth coating consistency.



Dip one end of each biscuit pair into the chocolate, hold it over the pot to drain for a few seconds, then put it back on the rack to set. Put something under the rack to catch the drips but there shouldn't be too many.



Stand back and admire.