Buttery coconut bikkies, a shamelessly generous raspberry centre and a lemony vanilla cream—because if we’re sandwiching two biscuits together, there had better be something worth spreading between them.
Makes approximately 15 generous sandwich biscuits
For the coconut biscuits
- 180g unsalted butter, softened room temp
- 110g brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Queens vanilla bean paste
- 185g self-raising flour
- 105g plain flour
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 50g desiccated coconut, lightly toasted and cooled
For the lemony vanilla cream
- 80g unsalted butter, softened
- 150g pure icing sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon Queens vanilla bean paste
- 1–2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp fine lemon zest
- Pinch of fine salt
For the saucy bit in the middle
- Approximately 110g good-quality raspberry jam
- 1–2 teaspoons freeze-dried raspberry powder, optional but fabulous plus helps keep the jam firmer. And we girls like things firmer!
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C conventional or 160°C fan-forced. Line two baking trays with More Liner Cookie Sheet in the size of your tray. We’re baking biscuits, not welding them permanently to a tray.
- Beat the butter, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy and a little fluffy. Add the egg and beat until everything is happily acquainted.
- Sift in both flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add the toasted coconut and mix only until a soft dough forms. Don’t flog it to death—nobody likes a tough bikkie.
- Roll level tablespoons of dough into small ovals and place them about 5cm apart. Flatten slightly, then drag a fork gently over the tops to give them those familiar Monte Carlo ridges. I winged it and went side ways!
- Refrigerate the trays for 15 minutes. This helps the biscuits hold their shape instead of spreading their business all over the tray. No body likes a spreader.
- Bake for approximately 10–12 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges. Cool on the trays for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- For the cream, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, then beat in the vanilla, lemon zest, salt and lemon juice. Whip until light, smooth and ready to be generously applied.
- Stir the freeze-dried raspberry powder through the jam, if using. It intensifies the raspberry flavour and thickens the jam slightly—less leakage, more lusciousness.
- Pipe or spread the lemony vanilla cream onto half the biscuits. Add a small spoonful of raspberry jam, then top with the remaining biscuits and press gently. Gently, people. We want a sandwich, not raspberry roadkill.
- Make yourself a cuppa and eat the evidence before anyone asks how many the recipe made.
What to make it "More" different?
- Toasted coconut: deeper, nuttier flavour without changing the biscuit structure.
- Lemon zest: cuts through the sweetness and works beautifully with raspberry and coconut.
- Vanilla bean paste: gives a richer flavour than plain vanilla extract.
- Extra buttercream: the original amount is balanced but I like more buttercream so I full encourage more per sandwich Monte Carlo.
- Freeze-dried raspberry: boosts flavour while helping prevent slippery, escaping jam.
- Salt: a small addition that makes the butter, vanilla and raspberry taste stronger. Even try it with a 50/50 mix of salted and unsalted butter.