Bake With Bree: Bustopher Biscuit Bites

A recipe inspired by Bree's zany cat, Bustopher.

'Biscuit, caramel and chocolate. The paw-fect trio!'

As the world's greatest lover of cats it only seemed fitting that I should include a cat in the Bree McCready stories. That cat comes in the shape of Bustopher, a "dippy, cross-eyed cat with a penchant for eating spiders".

Actually, there are another 93 cats who live in a small white cottage in the woods but that's a whole other story! Bustopher makes an appearance in all three of the books and even becomes a furry hero in one of them - I'm not saying which one and how he saves the day. That's for you to find out for yourself ;)

We first meet Bree's pet in Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket, book 1 in the trilogy:

"Bustopher slept contently on Bree's bed, occasionally letting out small, regular snores to remind them he was there. As she rubbed his silky ears Bree found herself wondering what would become of Agora Burton's cats. Bustopher yawned and stretched out his paws until his body vibrated with pleasure. Watching him sleep always relaxed her and now his hypnotic purr, combined with the soft light from the doll's house, made her eyelids heavy."

Bustopher Biscuit Bites are simple to make and very tasty. Once you crack through the chocolate lid with your teeth there's a soft, sticky caramel underneath, sweet jam and a crunchy biscuit bottom. You can decorate them any way you like - Cola laces for whiskers would be good but I used writing icing. I'll explain more about how I made Bustopher's face later.

Before you begin, click below the picture to see a fun Flipagram of my Bustopher Biscuit Bites :)

CLICK HERE - "What's New Pussycat?"

So, here are the ingredients you will need to make approximately 20 biscuits -

20 Hobnob biscuits (keep some spare in case of breakage)

100g of strawberry Jam - I used the kind you can easily squirt

75 ml of double cream

3 Mars Bars (chilled and finely chopped)

100g each of milk chocolate and white chocolate

A variety of decorations

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Using a fairy cake baking tin, place the Hobnobs upside down over the holes. They should sit nicely on the top. A muffin tin would be too deep for this.

Bake for around 3 minutes until the biscuits are warm and pliable. Keep an eye on them as they can quickly burn.

Remove them from the oven and gently press them down into the holes to form cup shapes.

Take your time as they are fragile and can easily break. It's best to do this as quickly as you can before they harden again. You might like to use the back of a dessertspoon for this, or a clean tea towel.

Leave the cup-shaped Hobnobs to cool for 10 minutes then squirt some strawberry jam into each biscuit cup and set aside.

Meanwhile combine the cream and finely chopped Mars Bars in a saucepan and place over a low heat.

Cook, stirring for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and allow to cool and thicken for 5 minutes.

Spoon the mixture into each biscuit cup and set aside while you prepare the chocolate.

Melt the milk chocolate and the white chocolate separately.

It's up to you whether you use the microwave for this or the old fashioned way, which I prefer - place the broken chocolate into a bowl over a simmering pan of water. Be careful not to let any water touch the chocolate or the base of the bowl as this will spoil it.

Spoon the melted chocolate over the caramel filled cups, spreading as close to the edges as you can to create a lid.

Chill until the chocolate sets.

Meanwhile gather together the decorations to make Bustopher's face.

Ears - chocolate hearts with the top sliced off to create a perfect triangle. Tiny pink candy hearts for the inside of the ear. I also used jelly diamonds cut in half and stuck them on using writing icing.

Eyes - White chocolate buttons, green Smarties and little chocolate balls and sprinkles.

Nose - A pink Smartie.

Whiskers and Mouth - Chocolate writing icing and a pink candy heart.

Bustopher's paw was made using one Marshmallow heart and four pink mini marshmallows. I also used white and milk Chocolate Buttons, chocolate balls and chocolate chips to make paw decorations.