Liquorice and caramel is not a German biscuit tradition but a Scandinavian one. In Denmark and Sweden, salmiak has been combined with soft toffee for generations, because the saltiness of the liquorice balances the sweetness of the caramel rather than overpowering it. We have translated this principle into a shortcrust biscuit recipe that works reliably in the Thermomix®.
We have been baking these biscuits every year during Advent for several winters now. At first we struggled with the caramel: on the hob the liquorice wheels burned immediately, and the cream and caramel mixture turned lumpy. After three attempts it became clear that the melting stage had to happen in the mixing bowl, because the temperature is held steadily at 70 °C. We are not actually big liquorice fans, but this particular combination of 3 liquorice wheels, 12 soft caramel sweets and 50 g double cream won us over.
Liquorice Caramel Crunch Biscuits, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 8 ✓
- 150 g sugar
- 250 g butter
- 250 g plain flour, type 550 + a little extra for rolling and cutting
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 liquorice wheels
- 20 g peanuts roasted, salted
- 12 soft caramel sweets
- 50 g double cream
Instructions 0 / 7
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1
Make icing sugar.
Add the sugar to the mixing bowl and pulverise for 15 sec / speed 10.
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2
Knead the dough.
Cut the butter into pieces, add together with the flour and salt, and knead for 4 min / kneading mode.
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3
Chill the dough.
Shape the dough into a ball and place it covered in the fridge for at least four hours.
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4
Roll out and cut the dough.
Roll out the dough thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut out shapes of your choice. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven (top and bottom heat) at 180 °C for about 5 to 8 minutes.
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5
Chop the remaining ingredients.
Add the liquorice wheels and peanuts to the mixing bowl and chop for 15 sec / speed 10.
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6
Add the caramel sweets.
Add the caramel sweets and double cream and melt for 4 min / 70°C / speed 2.
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7
Spread with caramel.
Spread half the biscuits generously with the caramel mixture and press the other half of the biscuits on top.
Tip: You can also coat your caramel crunch biscuits with white chocolate couverture.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Salmiak and Toffee in One Biscuit
- Melt at 70 °C instead of on the hob: Liquorice is highly sensitive. Above 90 °C the aromatic compounds burn and a bitter aftertaste develops. In the mixing bowl the caramel sweets and double cream run for 4 minutes at 70 °C at speed 2. The temperature stays constant, nothing burns, and the result is a smooth, spreadable cream rather than a lumpy mass.
- Make your own icing sugar: The 150 g of sugar is pulverised for 15 seconds at speed 10. This gives a finer shortcrust dough than shop-bought icing sugar, because there are no anti-caking agents such as maize starch. The dough becomes more tender and holds its shape better.
- The mixing bowl does double duty: The same bowl makes icing sugar, kneads the shortcrust dough in 4 minutes on kneading mode, and then melts the caramel filling at the end. We do not rinse it in between, because the residues do not interfere with each other. That saves washing up and time.
Where the Caramel Gets Too Runny or the Liquorice Clumps
Caramel becomes too runny and leaks out of the biscuits
Immediately after melting, the caramel cream is thin and cannot be spread neatly between the biscuits. If you work with it straight away, you end up with sticky hands and uneven filling.
Our solution: Put the cream in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes after melting. It firms up noticeably and becomes spreadable, like soft butter. Only then spread it onto the bottom half of the biscuits.
Liquorice wheels stick to the base of the mixing bowl
If you chop the whole wheels together with the peanuts directly in the mixing bowl, you risk the soft liquorice wrapping itself into a ball around the blade attachment.
Our solution: Cut the liquorice wheels into 1 cm pieces with scissors beforehand. Chop together with the 20 g peanuts for 15 seconds at speed 10. The peanuts help mechanically to prevent the liquorice from sticking together.
Biscuits turn hard instead of crumbly
If the dough is too warm or baked for too long, the biscuits lose their crumbly bite. They end up tasting more like crunchy cookies than melt-in-the-mouth shortcrust.
Our solution: Really do leave the dough in the fridge for the full 4 hours. Bake at 180 °C top and bottom heat for only 5 to 8 minutes, no longer. The biscuits should be lightly golden at the edges but still pale in the centre. They firm up further as they cool.
With Salt Flakes, a Chocolate Dip, or Baked Open-Faced
- With salt flakes instead of peanuts: If you want to bring the biscuits closer to the Scandinavian original, replace the peanuts with a pinch of Maldon salt flakes on top of the caramel cream. The result is salted caramel with a liquorice note.
- Double-dipped with dark chocolate: Dip the filled biscuits halfway into melted dark chocolate couverture. The bitterness of the chocolate amplifies the liquorice accent further.
- As open biscuits without a lid: Instead of sandwiching two biscuits together, spoon a dollop of caramel cream on top and garnish with a small piece of liquorice wheel. This looks cleaner and keeps the cream visible.
- Plain flour type 405 instead of 550: For a finer, almost melt-in-the-mouth dough, use type 405. The dough becomes more delicate to roll out, but the result is more tender.
Espresso, Cocoa or Scandinavian Punch
The liquorice caramel biscuits are part of our larger shortcrust collection from the Thermomix®, where we bring together the basic recipe, further biscuits, tarts, and cookies. Anyone looking for other classic Christmas baked goods will find a crunchy counterpart with toasted almonds in our Almond Christmas Shards with the Thermomix®. If you like the caramel principle without the liquorice, take a look at our soft caramel sweets from the Thermomix®, which also feature here as a filling and make a lovely gift.
One Week in a Tin, Stored Separately from Other Biscuits
The filled biscuits keep fresh in an airtight tin at room temperature for 3 days. After that the caramel cream becomes chewy and the dough draws moisture from the filling. We recommend eating them fresh and preparing them no more than 2 days before an occasion.
If you want to bake in advance, you can freeze the unfilled biscuits. In freezer bags they keep for up to 1 month. Assemble them with freshly made caramel cream only after thawing, because the filling does not survive freezing well and turns watery when defrosted.
Goes well with: coffee and vanilla ice cream.
The raw shortcrust dough can also be kept in the fridge for one day or frozen for up to 4 weeks. We often make double the quantity and divide the dough into two balls, because warming it in the fridge overnight is more relaxed than the 4-hour chilling phase on baking day.
More shortcrust ideas from the Thermomix® can be found in our shortcrust overview, further Christmas biscuits in our Almond Christmas Shards, and the matching caramel basic recipe in the caramel sweets from the Thermomix®.
