Not much of a baker? Me neither, I suffer from not having a sweet tooth so avoided the restrictions that baking can bring, until I had to learn because of taking part in BBC1 Best Home Cook. So I started with a super simple basic biscuit and as always had to make it into something more interesting, and so my Jumbo Jammie Dodger was born.
We've all got to start somewhere and this is a brilliantly easy recipe for children or beginner bakers alike, that will fill you with confidence and give you the baking bug!!
Prep time 20 mins
Bake time 10-12mins
90g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
200g plain flour, sifted
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 jar of jam of your choice, I use raspberry
Mix the sifted flour and baking powder in a bowl.
Cream the sugar and butter together, in a large bowl until they are paler in colour, then add the beaten egg and vanilla extract, mix well.
Add the flour in to the bowl and mix well with the butter mixture until it forms a dough, once it begins to come together you may need to use your hands for the last few mins just to form the ball of dough, then wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
When you are ready to start rolling, preheat the oven to 170c or fan ovens to 150c, and line a baking tray with some baking paper.
Lightly flour a worktop and begin to roll out your dough to about 1/2cm thickness, use a cookie cutter, (I use a cutter with about 3 inches width) to cut out the biscuits and with half of the cut biscuits cut out a circle or any shape you want in the middle, these will be the top part of your biscuits. You can either bake the cutouts with the other biscuits or freeze them for another time.
Place on the baking tray and pop in the oven until they look golden and crisp, this should take somewhere between 10 and 12 mins.
Leave to cool completely before decorating, once cooled spread the jam on to the bottom biscuits and then place a biscuit with a cut out middle on top, you can sprinkle with a little bit of sugar if you like, and there you have Jumbo Jammie dodgers!!
TIP: Be sure to freeze any extra dough for another time.
