Chocolate Kisses

INGREDIENTS
100g butter, at room temperature
50g caster sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
150g self-raising flour
FILLING
50g butter, at room temperature
100g icing sugar
a few drops of peppermint essence (optional - or try orange essence)
METHOD
Set the oven to 180°C.
Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Sift in the cocoa powder and flour and mix together until smooth, squeezing with your hands when the dough becomes too stiff to stir.
Take teaspoonfuls of the dough, roll into 20 balls and put on an ungreased baking tray, leaving a little space in-between to allow for them to spread during cooking.
Flatten the cookies slightly with the back of a fork, then bake for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Leave to cool on the baking tray.
Meanwhile, make the filling by beating together the butter, icing sugar and peppermint essence in a smaller bowl until smooth. Spoon half the filling into another bowl, and, if you like, mix the green food colouring into one half and the pink food colouring into the rest in the other bowl.
Spread five of the cookies with the green filling and five of the cookies with the pink filling, and then top with the remaining cookies.
These can be stored in an airtight container for up to two days.