Strawberry Jammy Dodgers

I decided to make these one day as I had a hankering for classic jammy dodgers but didn't have any to hand. Although they didn't taste like the shop bought versions, they still tasted pretty good with a soft but crumbly textured biscuit. I filled them with strawberry jam and a layer of vanilla buttercream.

One tip that I would give for something that I would do differently next time is to make sure if you roll the scraps of the dough out for a second time, make sure that the thickness is the same as the first roll out. I learnt this the hard way and it actually sounds very obvious now I think about it - some of the thicker biscuits spread out more than the thinner ones so did't sandwich together as neatly as I wanted.

Makes 30 sandwiched biscuits | prep time 30 minutes + 30 minutes cooling | 30 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

For the biscuits

250g butter, softened

150g caster sugar

1 medium egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla extract

300g plain flour

For the filling

6 tbsp strawberry (or raspberry) jam

140g butter, softerned

280g icing sugar

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

For decoration

caster sugar for dusting

Method

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

2. For the biscuits, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla then add the flour and mix in well using a spoon and then your hands.

3. Knead gently on a lightly floured surface to form a ball then wrap in cling film and chill for 20-30 mins.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to just a bit less than 5mm (¼in) thick, - it may be easier to roll out the dough in two batches depending on your work surface area. Then cut out rounds of dough to the size you want your dodgers do be.

5. Cut out smaller rounds using a smaller cutter (I used a star cutter but it could be another round) from half of them. Knead the centres and all trimmings together and re-roll to make more biscuits - about 60 in total.

6. Put on the baking sheets in batches and bake for 10-12 mins until pale golden. Take off the tray and cool on a wire rack.

7. While the biscuits are cooking, make the buttercream. Whisk together the softened butter, milk and vanilla extract until smooth, then add the icing sugar a little at a time until pale and fluffy.

8. Sandwich the biscuits together with the buttercream and the jam and sprinkle the biscuits with caster sugar for decoration.

#strawberryjam #strawberry #jammydodger #biscuit #cookie #buttercream #kids