Jammie Dodgers #BakingBloggers

When Sue of Palatable Pastime reminded me of the theme of this month's #BakingBloggers - British Baking - I knew I had to join in and experiment with a version of Jammie Dodgers. She wrote: "Bake up a British recipe (English, Scottish or Welsh), your choice of sweet or savory." Whenever I have a choice of sweet or savory, I almost always lean savory. But I've had these cookies on my to-make list for years. I figured it was time. First, though, the other British-inspired recipes...

• Bread & Butter Pudding by Sneha's Recipe
• Chocolate Chip Scones by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Eccles Cakes by Caroline's Cooking
• English Granary-Style Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fat Rascals by Palatable Pastime
• Jammie Dodgers by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Mini Toad in the Hole by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Raspberry Bakewell Tarts by Pandemonium Noshery
• Salmon in Puff Pastry by Reviews, Chews & How-Tos
• Strawberry Dark Chocolate Shortbread Biscuits by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Wizarding World Chocolate Trifle by Simple Inspired Meals
• Sticky Toffee Pudding by Cookaholic Wife
• Traditional Scottish Shortbread with Rose by The Schizo Chef

Jammie Dodgers

I picked up a package of Jammie Dodgers for inspiration and then actually found a variety of recipes  - an astonishing collection given that these basically have four ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. But some recipes used powdered sugar, some used granulated. I toyed with the idea of using brown sugar, but that will be for another post. Some used just the yolk, some the whole egg. I opted for the whole egg for this version. So, this is really an amalgamation of about a handful of recipes' proportions and ingredients. Oh, and I tested with different kinds of jam. I'm posting a less than traditional version here made with marionberry jam. Here we go...

Ingredients

• 3/4 C butter (1-1/2 sticks), slightly softened
• 1/2 C organic granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 C flour
• jam for filling (I used marionberry)
• organic powdered sugar for finishing

Procedure

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with an hand mixer until lightened and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then fold in the flour until it comes together as a ball. Some recipes said to chill the dough, mine was plenty stiff, so I just rolled them out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll the dough out (I did mine in two batches) on a lightly floured surface. You want to try for between 1/4" and 1/2" thick.

Use a round shape to cut the dough. Re-roll the extras until you are out of dough. For half of the rounds, cut another, smaller shape in the middle to form a window. You'll want to have even numbers of tops to bottoms. Place the cookies on a parchment paper or silicone mat-lined baking sheet.

Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. You want the cookies firm, but not too browned. Allow the biscuits to cool on the tray for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To assemble, dust the cookies with the cutouts with powdered sugar.

Add a dollop of jam to the full rounds and sandwich the cookies together.

I tested these with different jams and different sugars. This - with the marionberry jam - was not the favorite, but it's the one I'm sharing today! They liked the look of the smaller cookies with apricot jam, but they didn't like the jam part.