Twix Discs
Ingredients:
Gluten free shortbread:
65 g unsalted butter, softened
30 g caster/superfine sugar
½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
130 g plain gluten free flour blend
30 g cornflour
¼ tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp salt
20 g whole milk, room temperature
Homemade caramel:
180 g double cream
30 g unsalted butter, divided
100 g granulated or caster/superfine sugar
80 g golden syrup
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
Chocolate shell:
400 g melted dark chocolate, about 70% cocoa solids (Ideally, use tempered chocolate.)
flaky sea salt (optional)
Method:
Gluten free shortbread:
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 160C and line two large baking sheets with baking/parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix the softened butter, sugar and vanilla together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Don’t cream or aerate the mixture as it will make the cookies spread out in the oven.,
Sift in the gluten free flour blend, cornflour, xanthan gum and salt. Mix it all together until you get a fairly dry mixture – it will be very crumbly and it won’t stick together very well.
Add the milk and mix well until it starts coming together.
Give it a thorough knead until it comes together in a smooth ball. The cookie dough might be very slightly crumbly or crack in places, but it should hold together well. Roll the dough to a thickness of about 4-5mm between two sheets of baking/parchment paper.
Use a 5cm round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Re-roll any scraps to make more cookies until you've used up all the cookie dough. You should get about 22 cookies.
Transfer them onto the lined baking sheets and bake them, one baking sheet at a time, at 160C for about 20-24 minutes or until evenly golden brown.
Allow to cool on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Set aside until needed.
Homemade caramel:
In a saucepan (or in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave), heat the double/heavy cream and half of the butter together until hot and all the butter has melted. Set aside until needed, making sure that the mixture stays warm.
In another saucepan, combine the sugar and golden syrup, and cook over medium-high heat with frequent stirring until the mixture reaches 145C.
Remove from heat, pour in the cream mixture and stir well until combined.
Return to the heat and cook with constant stirring until the mixture reaches 112-116C. Immediately remove from heat and stir in the remaining butter and salt (optional).
Allow the caramel to cool to 50-55C before assembling the cookies.
Assembling the caramel cookies:
Once the caramel has cooled to 50-55C, transfer it into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle (the nozzle diameter should be about ⅓ inch/8mm).
Pipe the caramel in a spiral going out from the centre of the cookie. Make sure to leave about 3-4mm of caramel-free space around the edge, as the caramel will spread ever so slightly after piping.
Chill the caramel-topped cookies in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Chocolate shell:
Dip the slightly chilled caramel-topped cookies into melted chocolate (ideally, use tempered chocolate for the best shine and crisp texture).
After you’ve dipped them into the chocolate, lift them out with a fork and make sure to allow the excess chocolate to drip away – you want a fairly thin, even chocolate layer.
Place the chocolate-covered cookies on a wire rack (ideally, cover the wire rack with a sheet of cling film, as that makes it easy to remove the cookies after the chocolate has firmed up) and allow the chocolate to set at room temperature for 15-20 minutes. If it’s correctly tempered, you shouldn’t need to refrigerate the cookies.