Place the butter, scraped vanilla seeds and the sifted icing sugar in an electric mixer and briefly cream until pale. Do not over mix the mixture- otherwise the biscuits flow during baking. Mix in the egg white little by little, stirring after each addition. Sift flour and mix into the butter mixture. Stir until just combined. If using cocoa nibs, stir in last.
Place batter in piping bag with star nozzle and pipe 15cm long logs onto baking tray lined with a baking paper allowing some room between each biscuit.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the biscuits can be moved on the paper and have a light golden colour. Set aside to cool completely.
Filling
Place the chocolate in a bowl and gently melt over a water bath.
Once molten, remove from heat and stir in the hazelnut butter, ensuring there are no lumps. While mixture is still slightly warm, stir in the butter.
Finally, mix in the Kirsch (can be replaced with Cognac, or water for the kids). Set aside to settle for 30 minutes.
Pair up same sized biscuits, place the filling into a disposable piping bag and pipe onto one side of the biscuit.
Sandwich together biscuit and allow for filling to set.
Gently melt the dark chocolate, ensuring it is not heated above 32°C.
Dip the ends of the biscuit into the chocolate and enjoy with your favourite cup of coffee.
A lovely, piped shortbread that also can be flavoured with some fresh lime zest or even a sprinkling of Earl Grey tea leaves.
They are delicious on their own but to really transform them into something special, sandwich them together with this luscious, homemade hazelnut and chocolate filing and dip the ends in chocolate.
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