April 8, 2015 ·by Alice | Close Encounters of the Cooking Kind ·in Berries, Chocolate and White Chocolate, , Marshmallow, Recipes, Sweets and Desserts, Vanilla· 5 Comments
Welcome back! It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these Australian biscuitsoirées. I do apologise for the hiatus. I don’t have any real excuse for it, but I brought biscuits, so you’ll forgive me, right?
These aren’t just any biscuits either. These are huge, ginormous, big as your palm, Wagon Wheels. For those of you not acquainted with Wagon Wheels, let me introduce you. Think of a soft vanilla biscuit/cookie, smear some raspberry jam on top, take another soft vanilla biscuit, melt marshmallows on top of it, then smoosh the two biscuits together, dunk the whole thing in dark chocolate and you have the perfection that is aWagon Wheel.
Boy, are they good. And while they aren’t found exclusivelyin Australia, they’re a pretty big deal there, so that counts for something.I bought some British Wagon Wheels to compare myhomemade version to. It was the first time I had tried the British versionand I sure couldtaste the preservatives and sugar oozing out of each biscuit. But the things that most stood out as different to the Australian ones werethe size and the biscuit-filling ratio. The Aussie version is much larger than the British, and the British biscuit part seems to be a lot thinner than the Aussie one. That being said, I haven’t had an Aussie Wagon Wheel in several years, so my memory might not be the most accurate.
So. Today I bring you the recipe for homemadeWagon Wheels. And as bad as my memory of the Aussie version is, I reckonthis is a pretty decent imitation. The biscuit has that perfect almost cake-like texture and gets softer with age. You get a mouth full of marshmallow in each bite with just a hint of jam, and the dark chocolate coating is so rich and goes just right with all the other flavours mixing it up in your mouth.
Wagon Wheels
- Servings: 12
Prep Time:35 minutes + approx 3 hours for chilling and setting
Cooking Time:20 minutes
Ingredients:
2¾ cups plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
200g butter, at room temperature
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
TO ASSEMBLE:
½ cup raspberry jam
1 (200g) packet marshmallows (you need 24 marshmallows in total)
400g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Method:
- In a medium bowl, combine plain flour and baking powder. In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream butter, caster sugar and brown sugar, mixing until pale and well combined. Add vanilla extract and eggs and mix well, then add half the flour mixture, beating until incorporated. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until a rough dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead to form a smooth dough.
- Divide mixture in half, and roll each half out to a thickness of 3-4mm between two sheets of baking paper. Stack dough between sheets of baking paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5. Remove dough from fridge and use a 78mm (or similar) round, fluted cookie cutter to cut 24 biscuits from the dough, gathering the scraps, re-rolling and cutting as needed. Refrigerate cut biscuitsfor a further 15 minutes, transferring each sheet of baking paper to separate baking trays and keeping biscuits 2cm apart on trays. Remove trays from fridge and bake for 13-15 minutes, until the edges are golden. Allow biscuits to cool on trays for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
- When biscuits have cooled completely, begin assembly. Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2. Heat raspberry jam in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften slightly. Spread half a tablespoon of jam onto the bottom of 12 biscuits. Cut marshmallows in half, and place cut side down onto the bottom of the remaining 12 biscuits. Place marshmallow-topped biscuits on a baking tray and bake for 4-5 minutes to soften marshmallows. Remove from oven and lightly press jam-topped biscuits onto marshmallow-topped biscuits, jam side down. Place biscuit sandwiches on wire rack to set for approximately 15 minutes.
- When biscuit sandwiches have set,melt dark chocolatein the microwave in 30 second intervals or on the stove in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. When melted, stir in vegetable oil.Prepare a large length of baking paper to set biscuits onto once dipped. Working one biscuit sandwich at a time, use two forks to dip biscuit sandwiches into melted chocolate and flip to coat completely. Set on prepared baking paper and allow chocolate to set for at least 2 hours or overnight if possible. Store in an airtight container.
NOTE: You can use smaller cookie cutters to make smaller Wagon Wheels if you prefer. You may need more jam and marshmallows.
Biscuit recipe adapted from Flour and Aprons.
Australian Biscuit Series
Part 1: Honey Jumble Biscuits
Part 2: Mint Slice Biscuits
Part 3: Iced Vovo Biscuits
Part 4: Wagon Wheels
Tags: australian, biscuit, chocolate, cookie, Jam, marshmallow, raspberry, Recipe, vanilla, wagon wheel
