Valentine's Day Recipe: Love Bug Biscuits

These Love Bugs are great fun to make and are absolutely delicious. These chocolate cookies are sandwiched with a yummy chocolate buttercream, and iced to look like ladybirds, making a great gift for Valentines Day or Mother’s Day.

Ingredients
* 50g Soft Butter
* 50g Caster Sugar
* 15g Beaten Egg
* 85g Plain Flour
* 15g Cocoa Powder
* Heart Cookie Cutter

Filling
* 15g Chocolate Chips
* 25g Soft Butter
* 40g Icing Sugar
* 15g Soft Brown Sugar
* 5g Cocoa Powder

Decoration
* 50g Icing Sugar
* Cold Water
* Natural Red Food Colour
* Edible Sugar Eyes
* Sprinkles

Method:

1. Put the butter and caster sugar in a mixing bowl and beat together using a wooden spoon or electric hand-held mixer, until just creamy. Be careful not to over-mix or your biscuits will spread when you bake them.

2. Pout the beaten egg into the mixture and thoroughly combine. Then add the flour and cocoa powder and mix together until you form a ball of dough.

3. Wrap the dough in cling-film and place in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

4. Remove the dough from the fridge and gently knead on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to an even thickness of about 5-7mm.

5. Use your heart cutter to cut out 12-14 biscuits, re-rolling any left-over dough as needed. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and place your biscuits on the tray, making sure you leave a 2cm gap between each biscuit. Put the baking tray of biscuits in the fridge for another 30 minutes to chill, this will prevent them from spreading during baking. Preheat the oven to 180°c/160°c fan/gas 4.

6. Once chilled, put the baking tray of biscuits in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, turning the tray halfway through to make sure they bake evenly. Remove the baked biscuits from the oven and leave them on the tray to cool completely.

7. Whilst you are waiting for your biscuits to cool, make the chocolate filling. Melt the chocolate chips by placing the sealed bag in a mug of hot water. Put the butter in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until it is really soft and creamy. Slowly add the icing sugar and brown sugar, mixing together until it is fluffy. Add in the cocoa powder and squeeze in the melted chocolate, then stir everything together to combine.

8. Use a teaspoon to spread the filling on the surface of a biscuit and drop another biscuit on top. Repeat this until you have 6-7 sandwiched biscuits.

9. Once all your biscuits are sandwiched together you are ready to decorate! Put the icing sugar in a small bowl and gradually add cold water, a few drops at a time, until the icing is the consistency of toothpaste. Add the food colouring a little bit at a time, until you have a shade you are happy with.

10. Use a spoon to put the icing in the piping bag. Top Tip: stand the piping bag in a mug to make this easier). Snip 5mm off the end of the piping bad and carefully pipe the wings of each bug, leaving the face un-iced. Use a blob of icing to stick two eyes on each love bug and then add the sprinkles. Once decorated, set aside for half an hour to harden. Once set, enjoy!!

Recipe by Rebecca Honeywell-Ward, founder of Honeywell Bakes, and author of Planet Friendly Baking available at Honeywell Bakes and good book stores.