Chocolate and blackcurrant thumbprint biscuits - recipe

I have to start this post by saying a very Happy Birthday to 'Choclette' from Chocolate Log Blog. Its been 'Choclette's' birthday this last weekend (a 'special' one at that) and you can read all about what she did and the lovely tea party she had here on her blog. It looks like she had a birthday we would all love to enjoy, a day spent doing one of your favourite past times and spending time sharing good food with loved ones and friends. Good for you 'Choclette' and here's to the next 30 (or more) years!

Thats the nice bit...but by 'eck she does not half come up with some tough ones for the 'we should cocoa' monthly challenge. I nearly came a Roy Cropper with this one. This month's challenge is to make something with blackcurrants and chocolate! I had bit of a worry as initially I couldn't think of a darn thing to make...but after pondering over the weekend and seeing a sign locally (outside someone's house) selling fresh blackcurrants, I had my idea and I was ready!

The trouble was I then went away for the weekend and coming back home the blackcurrants had all been sold, what a disaster! But I would not be thwarted. Lurking in my fridge I had a lovely jar of homemade blackcurrant preserve, bought in Pickering. From this, these lovely chocolate and blackcurrant thumbprint biscuits were born. Taaaa daaaaa! (one day soon I will get to make the dark chocolate and blackcurrant mousse I really had planned)


Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
225g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
90g cocoa powder
190g self raising flour
2 egg yolks
half a small jar of good quality blackcurrant conserve
pistachio nuts - finely chopped
Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 180C fan. Line 2/3 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until the mix is pale and fluffy. Add the 2 free range egg yolks and the vanilla paste, mix again.
3. Sieve the flour and cocoa into the mix and combine everything together. Leave this mix to rest for about 30 minutes.
4. Take a spoonful of the mixture at a time, and form into ball between your hands, put each ball onto a baking sheet (leave room for this to spread when cooking). Use either your thumb OR a teaspoon to make the thumbprint indentation into each ball.
5. Add about half a teaspoon of the blackcurrant conserve into each indentation. Sprinkle the edges of some biscuits with chopped pistachio's. Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes.
6. When baked leave to cool slightly before removing to harden on a cooling rack. Sprinkle some of the finished biscuits with more chopped pistachio's.

These were quite a change with the rich buttery chocolate flavour of the biscuit against the blackcurrant conserve. An unexpected hit with a cuppa in the summer months!