Today's RECIPE is tasty treat. These Custard Cream Cookies are a delight. They taste buttery, crumbly and are very addictive especially when eaten chilled. Happy Baking!!

Recipe by Mama Ding

Total Time : 1 hour 20 mins

Prep Time : 55 mins

Cook Time : 25 mins

Yields : 16 cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies -

150 g ( 2/3 cup) unsalted butter
Pinch of Salt
150 g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
75 g (2/3 cup) cornflour
75 g ( 2/3 cup) Plain (all purpose) flour
100 g (3/4 cup) custard powder (such as Birds)
150 g (1 cup) ground almonds
1 large egg

For the custard cream filling -

125 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter . softened
50 g (1/2 cup) Icing (confectioners) sugar
1 tbsp custard powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method

01 Preheat the oven to 150°C/ 300°F.

02 Sieve the sugar, cornflour, plain flour, custard powder, salt and ground almonds into a large mixing bowl.

03 Cut the butter into cubes, add to the dry ingredients and rub in using your fingertips, until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

04 Make a well in the center. Crack the egg into a small bowl, beat lightly, then pour into the well.

05 Using a blunt knife, pull it through the egg mix about 20 times, so that it starts to mix into the dry ingredients. Give the bowl a quarter turn and slash the knife another 20 times, then use your hands to gently bind the rest of the ingredients together into a ball.

06 Transfer to a worktop and knead gently until the dough is smooth. Flatten slightly, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

07 After chilling, take the dough out from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 5 mm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut out pairs of cookies using cutters around 7 cm/ 21/2 inch diameter. Re-roll the leftovers and cut again. You should end up with about 32 cookies (16 pairs).

08 If you are cutting out the center of the biscuits, remember to do this on half of them only - the bottom of each pair should be whole, only the tops should have the cut-out.

09 Put the cookies onto baking trays lined with parchment paper, leaving a 1.5 cm/0.5 in space between each cookie. Place the tray in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, then bake at 150 C/300 F for 20-25 minutes until the cookies are just beginning to brown.

10 Remove from the oven, let rest for 2 minutes, then transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely.

11 Meanwhile, make the custard cream filling. Put the butter and vanilla extract into a mixing bowl, then sieve the icing sugar and custard powder into the bowl. Using electric beaters, cream the ingredients together until smooth and well combined.

12 Once the biscuits are cooled, pair them up into tops and bottoms and spoon some custard cream on the bottoms. Spread the cream out, using a blunt knife.

Add the top biscuit, pressing down lightly to sandwich the 2 halves together.

Best eaten chilled.

Notes

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature, up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.