Share A Little Love

When I started this blog last year, I wanted to find a way to connect to the present through seasonality and baking. It has really helped me and whilst I thought this would be an outlet just for me, it has been lovely that you have joined in too by sharing your inspirations and baking along with me. Thank you.

Valentine's day is just around the corner and whilst that is simply an event in the calendar where love is celebrated on a specific day; I think for me and others, it is a day that highlights something that is going on constantly. I try to tell and show the people I love how much they mean to me all the time, through out the year…usually with food!

With the current political turbulence that we see, I feel that Valentine's day can be a reminder of something we can all do - share a bit more love with people. Whether that is to your friends and family, to people in your community, or to people in the world. It can take little effort - being a bit more open and showing people that you care, could make a difference in someone's day that they then go on and show to another.

So with baking in my heart, I share this recipe for Jammy Dodger biscuits. A simple vanilla biscuit filled with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam. You could whip up a batch and share them out, spreading a bit of love as you go.

Jammy Dodgers

300g plain flour

200g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

100g icing sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling

150g unsalted butter, softened

340g icing sugar

3-4 tablespoons of milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 jar of raspberry jam

Line a baking sheet with parchment and preheat oven to 175ºC.
In a large bowl sift the flour and add the cubes of cold butter. Using your hands rub the flour and butter together between your fingers to create fine breadcrumbs.
Whisk the egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract together and then add them to the breadcrumbs, stirring until you have a dough.
Wrap the ball of dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes, to allow the butter to firm up again.
Remove from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/2 cm thickness. Cut out your shapes, I chose a large circular cutter (10cm) and a small circular cutter (5cm). In the large circle I used small letter cutters to cut out the word love, and some smaller heart shaped cutters for the small biscuits.
Make sure you biscuits are even in number, so you have the right amount to sandwich together, and then only half of the biscuits will have a cut out decoration and the other half will be plain (these will be the back).
Lay the biscuits out on the baking sheet and place back in the fridge for 20 minutes, as the butter will have softened in the rolling process.
Once they have chilled for the second time, you can pop them straight into the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes or until golden. The smaller biscuits will be done around the 7 minute mark, but just keep an eye on them.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Whilst they cool, you can get on with making the buttercream.
In a large bowl whisk the butter for 5 minutes, until it is pale and fluffy. Sift in half the icing sugar and gently beat again until combined. Sift in the remaining icing sugar and beat until combined.
Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine. Finally add half the milk and beat again and then the other half of the milk and beat. You are looking for a soft, spreadable light texture, add a little more milk if it is still to stiff.
Once the biscuits are completely cool, pipe or spread the buttercream onto the base biscuit, dollop on a spoonful of jam on top and spread over. Top with your decorated biscuit half and sandwich together, giving a gentle squeeze (really gentle as you don't want to snap your biscuit) the jam will ooze up into the cutout decorations.