I have always had a very strong feeling for biscuits. I love them. I’ll take crunch over cake crumbs and fingers over forks every time. I love their versatility and variety and I just love a bikkie with a cup of tea.
When we first moved home to the farm and were trying to figure out cash flow while everything was getting started, I began a little biscuit-baking business, Buena Vista Farm Bikkies. I rented a commercial kitchen down the road in a conference centre that was empty during the week, and signed up to run a stall at the Gerringong market. I got my head around insurance and ordering ingredients in bulk, and labelling and licensing and all the things – the easiest part of it was the biscuits themselves. Nothing made me happier than showing up in a sun-filled clean commercial kitchen and making crates of biscuits. What a dream job.
We made this biscuit commercially for a number of years before we decided to make fewer biscuits and more goat cheese. Marry Me Caramels were sold locally at a few markets, in sealed packets of 8, and had a bit of a cult following. Crisp shortbread bikkies sandwiched together with chewy caramel – so yum. The name was designed to make people giggle, based on the idea they’re so delicious you will want to marry them, although feel free to use in any way you see fit. (Please report back.) We made them using handmade caramel but they work even better using dulce de leche, a recipe I shared here a couple of weeks ago.
Makes approx. 15 sandwiched bikkies
Ingredients
1 quantity Shortbread (recipe below)
1 quantity Dulce de Leche (recipe link here!)
Method
Make the shortbread according to the recipe below, roll the dough out to approx. ½ cm thickness and cut the biscuits into approx. 3cm rounds.
Make the caramel filling, the Dulce de Leche, per this recipe It’s easier to use when the caramel is warm, so my advice is to cool it in the condensed milk tin as discussed, then scrape it out and gently warm up again in your microwave when ready to use – it will be stickier and will more effectively sandwich the biscuits together. Spoon the caramel into a piping bag and pipe a neat dollop of caramel onto the underside of a shortbread round, then press another round on top, creating a sandwich. Alternatively just use a teaspoon to plop a dollop of warm caramel onto one biscuit, sandwiching another on top. The caramel will firm as it cools.
A note about Shortbread: I’m judgy about shortbread. It must be very fine, buttery and crisp. It’s one of those simple things that actually isn’t that simple if you DON’T FOLLOW THE RULES!
The rules are:
1. Your rice flour must be FINE. No grainy flour, people! I’m begging you!
2. Sugar must also be fine! Like, icing sugar!
3. Butter must be cold. Sure, this is a boring rule. But if you don’t use cold butter you’ll have a slightly fatty tasting shortbread with zero crispiness and LIFE IS SHORT! DEMAND FABULOUS CRISPY LOVELY SHORTBREAD! Because what else are we doing here, really? When life is uncertain, enjoy the certainty of excellent shortbread. It’s in your reach.
Makes approx. 30 pieces
Ingredients
125 g (1 cup) icing sugar
175 g (1 cup) rice flour (as fine as you can get)
225 g (1 ½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
250 g (1 cup) cold butter
1 egg
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) (170°C/340°F fan-forced).
The very best way to make this shortbread is in a food processor. Start by placing your icing sugar in the food processor and pulsing it for a few seconds to get rid of any lumps, then add the flours and then the butter. Mix until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add the egg and pulse until it forms a firm ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for half an hour.
Roll out to approximately 5 mm thickness and, using a small round circle-cutter, cut out circles. Bake on trays lined with baking paper for about 12 minutes, or until golden.
If you don’t have a food processor, rub the butter into the flours and sugar with your fingers until combined and crumbly. Make a well in the centre of the mix and add the egg. Keep mixing until smooth and amalgamated and you can form it into a firm ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and proceed as above.
These biscuits will stay fresh in an airtight container for at least 3 weeks, as if they’ll be there that long. Guffaw.
Recipe adapted from Fiona Weir’s book “From Scratch” published by Hardie Grant 2022, photography by Alan Benson