These jammy biscuits are the best sweet treat - buttery and soft, they are perfect enjoyed alongside a cup of tea.
Many moons ago, my anniversary was on Valentine's Day. Before then, I never cared much about this occasion. In fact. I largely ignored it. But when it became my anniversary, it got a whole new meaning, something dear to my heart. So when that relationship ended, I found myself navigating many things, with one being Valentine's Day. Ultimately, I just embraced it, and celebrated it for myself, as cheesy as it sounds. Since then, Valentine's Day is a day to treat and love myself, as well as my friends, and I genuinely welcome it.
So with that in mind, I created these jammy biscuits. They are perfect for everyone, to share with your loved ones or to enjoy them by yourself - truly, anything goes. The biscuit dough is very similar to a shortbread, buttery and soft, and not overly sweet. As for the filling, I recommend splashing out on a nice jam (or jelly, if you are reading this from the US), and to be generous with it - we want some proper jam sandwich biscuits here!
Top Tips for the Best Jammy Biscuits
A Chilled Dough Is a Happy Dough: With shortbread biscuits and the like, the key to the perfect, melt-in-your mouth texture is having a chilled dough. This means going in with chilled, cubed butter to start with, and once you have your dough, leave it in the fridge for a bit, to keep it cold. I also suggest that you work in smaller batches, and keep the rest of the dough in the fridge as you work your way through each batch, to make sure your biscuits are cold before they hit the oven.
Looks Are Deceiving: When it's time to get your biscuits out of the oven, you'll worry you have taken them out too soon - they'll be quite pale and soft. That's actually perfect, as they burn very quickly and they harden considerably after cooling - any more time in the oven and they'll be too hard or dry when you eat them.
The Process of Assembling: Before assembling your biscuits, you need to make sure they have fully cooled down, or the powdered sugar will melt and the jam will go runny. Once the biscuits are room temperature, take the biscuits with the hart-shaped cut centre and sprinkle powdered sugar all over them. Then take the other 'half' of the biscuits and spread jam in the middle. Gently press the sugar-coated biscuits on top of the jam to complete assembling. And you are done.
Ingredients:
Makes about 25 sandwich biscuits
250 gr plain flour
125 gr cold unsalted butter
70 gr caster sugar
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp cold water
6 tbsp strawberry jam
powdered sugar
Sift the flour into a bowl, add the caster sugar and mix until combined.
Tip the flour and sugar mix onto a working surface (like a clean table, a large wooden cutting board, etc) and make a 'well' in the middle. Add the yolks and beat them lightly with a fork.
Add the cold cubed butter and water to the 'well', and mix with your hands. This process will take a while, and you'll start to wonder whether it will actually come together, but it will, I promise. A few minutes later, you should have a smooth dough.
Place the dough into a bowl and leave it to chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins. In the meantime, turn your oven on to 160 C/320 F.
When you are ready to make your biscuits, divide the dough into six balls, keep one and put the others back into the fridge. The dough should remain chilled, so work one batch at a time, while the rest remains in the fridge.
Place your dough ball on a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough. It should be rolled quite thick - about 1/2 cm.
Using a circular cookie cutter, cut as many biscuits as you can. Then using a smaller hart-shaped cookie cutter (or a smaller circular one if you don't have a heart-shaped one), cut the centre of half the biscuits.
Place the batch on a tray lined with baking paper and bake for 13 minutes.
Once out of the oven they'll look a bit pale and they'll be quite fragile. Don't worry, they'll harden once cold. Leave them onto a cooling tray and carry on working on your next batch.
Once all the cookies have been baked and have fully cooled down, it's assembling time: put the cookies with the heart-shaped centre onto a plate or tray and dust them with powdered sugar.
In a small bowl, beat the jam with a spoon until it loosens a little, then place a generous dollop at the centre of each 'whole' biscuit (so not those with the hart-shaped centre).
Then place the biscuits with the heart-shaped centre on top of the jammy biscuits, and press lightly: you now have your sandwich biscuits!
Store these biscuits in an air-tight container for up to 4 days - that is, if there are any left by then!
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