Jammie Dodgers

Food for me is one of life’s greatest topics of conversation. It is a universal vernacular and it seems no matter what your level of skill, it is of interest to everyone everywhere. This paddy’s weekend the question ‘what would be your final meal on earth?’ was asked and for a long time people at the dinner table paused… I think most people were trying to sound grand and knowledgeable listing intricate recipes and dishes and in the end I think I would choose my ultimate comfort food, crusty sourdough bread, lashings of kerrygold butter and freshly cut wafer thin ham and cheese. All Irish quality simplistic food at its best. *(sourdough bread recipe to come)*. 

I love the sense of achievement and pride food can evoke for so many people. Sometimes in my work I don’t achieve this sense among young people all the time and so at home and with friends I love to bake dishes that bring cheer happiness to people. 

For this blog entry I decided to use one of my all time favourite comfort foods, jam. We grew up on jam sandwiches and the all time favourite buttery scones with lashing of strawberry jam. 

I adore any opportunity to use jam in baking and these Jammie dodger biscuits are nice and light and are the prefect compliment with a cup of coffee or mug of tea.  

They do need to be chilled in the fridge for up to 30minutes but the longer you make the dough ahead the better as the dough is so much easier to work with and they take no length in the oven. Home Store and More have a great selection of colourful cutters from hearts to animal shapes to christmas festive bells at very reasonable prices.  

Ingredients: 

225g of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

A pinch of salt

100g of muscavado sugar

150g of butter

1 large egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

9-10 tablespoons of good quality raspberry/strawberry jam (homemade jam is all the better!) 

Equipment: Mixing bowl, spatula, rolling pin, 2 flat baking tray, electric whisk, sieve, love heart shape cutters (one large and one small) 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/ gas mark 4 and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

Using a mixer and beat together the butter and sugar for 4-5minutes until nice and creamy. Add in the egg and mix through.

Using a wooden spoon mix through the flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract until you have a biscuit dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and roll out to about 1cm in thickness.

Cut out heart biscuit shapes, place on the lined baking tray, then using a smaller cutter or a small knife cut out the center of each cookie.

Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes until nicely golden brown and crispy. 

Once cooled spoon a little jam on top of the main biscuit and cover with the open heart shaped biscuit. 

Dust with a sprinkle of icing sugar. Keep in an air tight tin to keep them crispy.