"Jammy" Dodgers

Heya,

If I asked my parents to choose their favourite bake of mine, I’m 99.9% sure they would say my shortbreads. I’m not sure if it’s because they aren’t too sweet or simply because they are perfect with a cup of tea but for some reason my parents love them. Whilst rolling and cutting the dough into pretty shapes is fun, I’m always up for making something more exciting so about 2 months ago decided to further elaborate my shortbread recipe into sandwich cookies. Jammy dodgers would be in my top 5 favourite shop bought biscuits (Oreos at topping the list!) however my least favourite part is ironically the jam. Therefore, my take on jammy dodgers uses other, yummier fillings. The shortbread recipe itself is relatively straightforward and is great fun to rope your whole family in to cut out the cookies. The actual sandwiches can be any shape however I tend to do circles as I’m a perfectionist and like them to look like the real thing. The beauty of this recipe is also the lovely little extra cookies you get from cutting out a whole in the top. I always end up making around 30 mini hearts or stars with the leftover dough which are both fun and a perfect addition to dessert after dinner when you fancy that sweet kick but are already relatively full! 

Here is my recipe for “Jammy” Dodgers:

Ingredients: (makes 24 sandwiches)

The cookies:

• 225g Butter, softened
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1.5tbs Milk of choice (I use Oat)
• 350g Plain Flour
• ½ tsp Baking Soda

The fillings: (these are my preferences, but you can use a similar quantity of any spread!)

• 6tsp Lotus Biscoff Spread
• 6tsp Crunchy (obviously!) Peanut Butter
• 6tsp Nutella 
• 6tsp Jam (I like raspberry)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175’c, gas mark 4
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together
3. Add the egg and milk and continue to mix until fully combined
4. Fold in the flour and baking soda and knead with your hands until a rollable dough forms
5. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough out until it is around a centimetre thick
6. Cut out 48 shapes of your choice (providing they are all of a similar size!)
7. Cut a small hole in the centre of half of the cookies- I tend to do a heart but it is up to you
8. Place the cookies on a greased tray 1-2cm apart
9. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are golden
10. Leave to cool for about 40 minutes
11. On each no holed biscuits, place a teaspoon of your filling of choice then place a holed cookie in order to get that jammy dodger look
12. Enjoy!!