Grown up jammy dodgers, also known as Linzer Sablé (page 2)

This recipe makes about 12 biscuits, but you can always double the ingredients to make more at the same times, especially with how fast they go once out on the side. To get started, grind almonds in a food processor to make a fine powder, then add the flour, baking powder, lemon zest, cinnamon and sugar to the bowl and pulse a few times until thoroughly combined.

 

Add the butter and cream cheese to the processor bowl and blitz just until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Add the egg yolk and run the machine again until everything comes together to make a soft dough. Take a look at the picture of the Yolkr I found, which makes separating the yolk from the white easy and mess free!

 

Remove the dough from the bowl, shape it first into a ball and wrap in fling and then flatten that dough between your hands to form a tightly wrapped thick disc. Chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes or until firm.  Try not make it too firm as it tends to crack as you roll the dough out.

 

Unwrap the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, or board if you have on big enough to roll out the dough. Roll out the dough to the thickness of a pound coin, or slightly beyond if you like thin biscuits. Remember you’re going to be filling with jam and having two of them on top of each other, so it could be quite a big bite if you’re not careful, they’ll also take a bit longer to cook if they’re thick and no one wants a soggy biscuit! If things get sticky, then add a bit more flour to the board and the dough itself.

 

Using a flower shaped dough cutter, floured as much as you can, cut out as many biscuits as you are able. You can re-roll the dough a couple of times if you have bits left over, which unless you’re a robot you definitely will have! I find that you can only do this a couple of times, otherwise the dough is too try an brittle. For the tops of the biscuits, you want to cut out the middle of the flower. I used a apple corer to do this, which worked really well. However, other kitchen utensils work just fine, as does a sharp knife. Make sure you have an even number of flowers with an without a hole for assembly later.

 

When you have all of the biscuits done and on baking trays, chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes when you pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Once the biscuits are ready for the oven, bake the biscuits in the heated oven for about 10 minutes until they are a pale golden colour with slightly darker edges. To be safe I would check after about 8 minutes, just in case some of the thinner ones are cooking faster than the thick ones. If you’re using a fan oven, you can rotate the sheets to make sure they’re evenly baked.

 

Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool ahead of transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. I recently found an awesome cooling rack from Lakeland, which you can see in the photos and here. It is great because if you do a big bake you can fit all your yummy wares on the one rack (yes, sad I know).

 

When ready to finish, it is a simple case of spreading jam over the flat underside of the biscuits without a hole, then sandwich with the flowers with a hole. You can use raspberry or strawberry jam, the best jam is one with a high fruit content as it makes for a sticky eat. Dust with icing sugar for a cheeky little presentation tip.

 

Once the biscuits have been jammed they are best eaten the same day. However, keeping the biscuits without the filling in an airtight container will keep the fresh and crunchy for a week, allowing you to assemble the biscuits later.

 

And there we have it, grown up jammy dodgers, which you can happily consume whilst feeling like a child inside!