At first glance it might seem that I am just a happy, normal girl who loves to bake and walk her dog. However, I have suffered with an eating disorder since I was 13. It was only in May 2014 when I realised that this Voice in my head was slowly but surely trying to kill me. And so began the long, hard, and painful journey which is recovery...

I want My Cocoa Stained Apron to be a special place...a place for reflection, memories, shared stories...and of course a little bit of cocoa-staining ;) Recovery might be the hardest thing you ever choose to do in this life. But it is also the bravest and best decision you will ever make.:)

Monday 27 April 2015

Jammy Dodgers!! :)

A childhood favourite of mine!!! I LOVE jammy dodgers and they always remind me of picnics when Iwas little <3 I dedicate this recipe to a special friend of mine who also shares my love for these delightful little biccies...she showed me a pic of her own and OMG they were exquisite!! Needless to say, mine didn't look quite so professional ;) but there was no compromise on taste though..they were as yummy as I had intended ;)




Ingredients

  • 125 g butter, diced
  • 160 g plain flour
  • Good pinch of salt
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1large egg yolk
  • About half a pot of any jam of your choice – raspberry is the traditional filling and is quite possibly my ultimate favourite ;) but you could try using strawberry, apricot, blackcurrant, blackberry…whichever takes your fancy ;) and for extra prettiness why not use a number of different coloured jams? One point of note, though: smoother jams so generally work better than chunky ones in these biccies!! ;)

Method 
  • Sieve the flour and salt into a big bbowl and stir in the sugar.
  • Add the diced butter and rub lightly in, using your fingertips, until the mixture ressembbles fine breadcrumbs.
  • Make a little well in the centre of the mixture, and then add the egg yolk, pouring the teaspoon of vanilla extract on tip of the egg yolk.
  • Gently Draw the flour around the edges of your "well" into the centre where the yolk is. Mix very gently with your hands, until a soft, moist dough is formed. 
  • Wrap the ball of dough tightly in clingfilm and then pop it in the fridge for a minimum of half and hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 170c/fan 150c. Line three trays (or two large) with bbaking paper.
  • Take the dough out the fridge and remove the clingfilm. Cut into two equal sized pieces. Roll out one of the halves, using a rolling pin, between two pieces greaseproof paper, which should both be dusted very lightly with a sprinkling of flour. You should roll it into a neat little oval or rectangle, and the dough should be a thickness of about 5mm.
  • Use a 7 cm round cutter, lightly dusted with flour, to stamp out little circles of dough. Gather up the scraps of leftover dough and then roll them out again with the other unrolled half ball of dough. Cut out more circles using the same cutter. In total, I got about 20 little circles. 
  • Place 10 of the circles of dough on the baking trays.
  • Now you need to cut smaller holes in the centre of the other 10 circles!! Of course if you have a very small cutter (about 2cm  or there abouts in diameter), this is definitely the best thing sto use. I on the other hand am not so fortunate to own such a marvellous baking utensil;) ...so what did I use instead..? The plastic top of a 1 l milk cardboard carton , dipped in flour!! ;)
  • Place the "holy" :p cirles on the baking trays too, allowing room between all circles to allow for spreading. ake for 10-15 minutes. When cooked, they should be a very pale golden. The shortbready biscuits will still be slightly soft at first - not too hard or dark in colour - but they will harden as they cool. 
  • After about 15 minutes transfer the biccies until a wire rack to cool.
  • When the biscuits are cool, (or this can still be done when they are slightly warm, just not too near their removal from the oven as at that point the biscuits will be still quite delicate ) spread a generous dessert spoonful of jam over the top of each on of the shortbread rounds(the ones WITHOUT the little holes at their centre). 
  • Sandwich each one of the jam-covered rounds with the remaining shortbread circles (the ones with the little hole at their centre). Sprinkle with a little icing sugar if you like. :) xxx


2 comments:

  1. They look delicious emmy! I think we call these biscuits raspberry shortcakes in Australia. Hope you are well.
    karly xx

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  2. <3 Hey hun ! Thank you so much! Well the ones you buy in the shops aren't quite as "shortbready" in texture as my ones, but I do like shortbread so I actually think these have a tasty little twist to them ;) Hope you are doing well too hun! I'll write you an email today <3 xxx

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