We grew up with Arnotts Iced VoVos. We always chewed off the pink lines of icing, ate the biscuit and then ate the remaining thin strip of the jam. The iced VoVos of today kill that memory.
This version has squishy, thick marshmallow, tasty jelly like jam all on a shortbread biscuit base.
These biscuits have so much flavour and taste even better chilled.
ICED VO VOs
Vanilla biscuit
- 200g butter, softened
- 125g caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 300g plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
To garnish
- 50 g desiccated coconut
- 2 tbs icing sugar
Pink marshmallow
- 150 ml water
- 15g powdered gelatine
- 380g caster sugar
- 120 ml water
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 drops pink food colouring
Thickened Jam
- 1/2 jar of jam of choice
METHOD
Vanilla biscuit
The dough is made, flattened out, wrapped in plastic and cooled before rolling out.
Using the paddle attachment in a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
While continuing to run the mixer add the salt, vanilla essence and the egg yolks one at a time.
Sieve flour and baking powder together and, on low speed, gradually add it to the butter mixture until it just comes together.
Push the dough into a ball and place between 2 pieces of parchment paper and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour to set.
The dough is far easier to work when chilled so put it in the fridge between each step.
Line 2 baking trays with baking paper
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan forced
Roll the dough out to 4 mm thick between the 2 pieces of baking paper.
Cut into 5cm x 3 cm rectangles. I find this size is better to eat but 6 x 4 is closer to the commercial ones.
It is best to put the sliced dough back into the the fridge. Using a flat bladed knife place the cold pieces of dough on the trays
arranging the cold biscuits on the baking trays about 1cm apart.
Bake for 15 minutes rotating and changing shelves regularly until starting to brown.
Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Thickened jam
In a saucepan on medium heat add the jam and cook for approximately 10 minutes to thicken, stirring occasionally.
Blend with a stick mixer until smooth.
Allow to cool and transfer into a piping bag.
Pink marshmallow
This makes a seriously large amount of marshmallow. It will easily cover twice as many biscuits as this recipe makes. It freezes very well so pipe leftovers onto baking paper, wrap and freeze. The frozen leftover marshmallow can be reheated in a microwave, stirred until smooth and used for a later batch of biscuits.
Place 150 ml of water in the mixer bowl and sprinkle over the gelatine and leave to bloom.
Put the caster sugar and 120 ml of water into a saucepan on medium-high heat.
Allow to slow boil without stirring, until the temperature reaches 120°C (soft ball stage) on a sugar thermometer.
Once at temperature, pour the sugar mix over the gelatine and water mix. Add the vanilla essence and pink food colouring.
Whisk on high for 8-10 minutes, or until the marshmallow is thick and glossy and can hold its form.
Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 10mm plain round nozzle.
Assembly
Pipe straight lines of marshmallow on either side of each biscuit.
Pipe the thickened thick jam between the lines of marshmallow.
Sprinkle desiccated coconut over the marshmallow and jam to cover generously then sprinkle with icing sugar through a tea strainer.
I like to put these in the freezer and serve them straight from there.
Hints and tips
Only make marshmallow once other components are complete, as it will quickly thicken and become harder to pipe after mixing.