There are a few types of cookie that look pretty enough to dupe people into thinking they are difficult to make. Jammie dodgers, or linzer cookies if you're stateside, fit that bill. Actually, the hardest part of any cookie-making is enduring the loss of cookie dough as it bakes into not cookie dough, so as long as you are confident your cut outs will make it into the oven and not your mouth then these biccies are easy to make (and hey, props for big goals).
I have a weird and wonderful gadget that makes these cookies, a push button cutter with an extra fixture for stamps to cut out the middle shape. It's a pain to clean and sometimes the spring mechanism falls apart, leading to small components launching themselves across the room. Seeing as I've wounded myself engaging in tasks like opening cabinets and flushing the loo, it's only a matter of time before I incur a major injury with a cookie cutter. Naturally.
So don't rush to buy one unless you're dealing in serious plans to open a linzer cookie business. Instead you can use any shape cookie cutter and then either use a small cookie cutter or even the cap off a small bottle to achieve the center hole for the top half of the sandwich.
Vegan Jammie Dodgers
One big brand of prepackaged jammie dodgers, or linzer cookies, is vegan in the UK, but you can't beat homemade. If you don't have raspberry jam to hand, any flavour will do. Just avoid anything with big lumps of fruit.
- 150 grams all purpose flour
- 30 grams almond meal
- 10 grams (1 tablespoon) cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 110 grams (½ cup) Pure spread
- 70 grams granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Around ¼ cup seedless raspberry jam, for filling
- Icing sugar (optional)
- Mix the flour, almond meal, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the Pure and sugar together in a separate large bowl until light and fluffy, ensuring the sugar is dissolved into the fat. Add vanilla and mix.
- Tip the flour mixture into the bowl and beat only until combined. Form the dough unto a rough disk shape and wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
- The next day (or at least a few hours later), roll the dough out to a ⅛ inch thickness on a floured surface. Use a linzer cookie cutter to cut half shapes with holes and half without. If you don’t have a linzer cutter, use a round or square cutter and then cut small holes out of the centre (if you don’t have a cookie cutter that small, find a lid from a bottle).
- If you don’t eat all of the off cuts, you can dust your surface with more flour and reroll the dough, but work quickly as it warms quickly and will become sticky. You can pop the dough back in the fridge for a little while if this is a problem.
- Transfer the cut outs to parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are a light golden brown. Cool the cookies for a couple of minutes before spreading about a teaspoon of jam on the inverted bottom halves of the sandwich pair. If desired, dust icing sugar over the top cookies before gently sandwiching the biscuits together.
- Author: Kip Dorrell
- Yields: 12-15 cookie sandwiches