JAM SANDWICH SUGAR COOKIES
Here’s my super simple, but easily customizable, Jam Sandwich Sugar Cookies. Perfect with raspberry jam and powdered sugar on top, these are easier to make than you think. **click photo to expand
Equipment
- Scales or measuring cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Stand/Hand-mixer
- Large mixing bowl
- Cookie Cutters of your choice (see notes above)
- Baking Palette knife or butter knife
- Baking/parchment Paper (minimum 4 large pieces)
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Tray/sheet x 3
- Baking spray or butter to grease (optional)
- Timer or Phone Timer
- Cooling rack
- Small Sieve (or fine tea strainer)
- Teaspoons
Ingredients
- 170 grams Butter, unsalted & cubed (¾ cup, 6 oz)
- 134 grams Granulated Sugar (⅔ cup, 4¾ oz)
- 1 Egg, medium- large (Large - XL US)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Almond Extract
- 281 grams Plain Flour (2 ¼ level cups, 10 oz, All Purpose)
- ¼ tsp Baking Powder (rounded ¼ tsp)
- ¼ tsp Salt
- Jam, Jelly, Preserve, Fruit Curd or even Chocolate Spread
- Icing/Powdered Sugar (for dusting, optional)
Instructions
MAKING THE BISCUIT DOUGH
- Cube & weigh out your butter & leave till softened. Cubing makes a smaller surface area, allowing it to soften faster. But if you forget, or are short on time, why not try this hack I reviewed? Go to How To Soften Butter In About 12 minutes Video. See Photo 1 below.
- Once ready, beat the butter for about 1 minute till no longer cubes. Then add in the sugar & mix for a further 2 or 3 minutes in a stand/hand-held mixer till not just well combined, but the sugar has broken down and the butter a little paler in colour. See Photo 1 above.
- Next add the egg, vanilla & almond extract to the mixture & mix on high speed until well combined. This should take seconds. See Photo 2 below. Click to read how to make home-made vanilla extract.
- Weigh or measure in the flour & spoon in the baking powder & salt. Mix on low speed to begin with, and then continue mixing until all the dry mixture is absorbed and no ‘white' flour is visible. With a plastic/rubber/silicone spatula, scrape down the side of the bowl, making sure nothing is left behind, and there are no flour patches at the bottom of the bowl. Mix again just briefly. Don’t over-mix it or the biscuit will be tough. See Photo 3 below.
- Cut out baking/parchment paper to fit your baking sheets/trays or ordinary trays (which ever will fit in your fridge). You will need at least 4 pieces.
- Place one piece of the paper on a worktop/counter, then take ½ of the dough from the bowl and form into a ball then flatten to a disc. See Photo 3 above. Place in the centre of the paper, and position a 2nd piece of baking/parchment paper on top and there will be no need to flour the rolling pin. (If your dough is a little sticky, you can add a little flour, or icing/powdered sugar, but just a little). Roll out till the dough is at least ⅞mm (height of 2x £1 + 2p coins – ⅓"). Don’t go any thinner than this at the edges). See Photo 4 below.
Chill The Dough
- Repeat with the 2nd half of the dough and put both into the fridge for 1 hour to firm up. Stack them on top of each other if you want, with the extra pieces of paper in-between them.
- Now prepare the baking trays/sheets by lightly oiling and placing 1 of the top baking/parchment papers on top. (You can re-use the baking paper). You only need do this if the baking sheet/tray don’t have a lip – I have had cookies fall off and onto the floor before!
- Take 1 tray from the fridge. Prepare your cutters by lightly dipping in a bowl of flour or icing/powdered sugar.
Cut Out The Biscuits
- Cut out as many shapes as you can from this one piece and place on one of the prepared baking trays, (with about ½cm or ⅕" space in-between). These will be the base or bottom cookies, if you are doing any with cut out middles. Roll up the scrap pieces of dough, and roll back out before placing back in the fridge to firm up. Be sure to roll between 2 sheets of paper.
- Now move on to the second tray of dough, and cut out the tops for the cookies, that will have cut out centres. If you are using shaped cutters that are not symmetrical, remember to turn the cookie cutter the other way round, so that you will have a proper pair once baked to join together, that will join up nicely. Alternatively you can turn the cut out over before baking. I found it easier to make pairs, at the cutting out stage. See Photo 5 below.
Re-roll Scrap Dough
- Remember to re-roll excess dough and chill again, while working on the rest, until all the dough is used up. Just cut out the centres with any of the small holiday cutters or even wider end of a piping nozzle, ensuring they are not too big for the size of the cookie. (See Photo 5 above). Then chill the cut-out cookies while you heat the oven. (If you want really flat cookies, with no spread, you can chill now for 1 hour).
- Heat up the oven to: 180/160c Fan Oven/350f/Gas mark 4.
Bake The Cookies
- Bake the biscuits/cookies for 8-11 minutes. Turn and rotate the trays half-way through for an even bake. The biscuits are ready when very pale coloured on top and around the edges are just about to colour. They will be quite pale like shortbread, soft and appear not done. It will however move, when you very gently push with a spatula or knife. See Photo 6. You can choose to bake just one tray at a time, and bake in the centre shelf of the oven.
Cool The Biscuits
- Let the biscuits cool for 5 minutes on the tray/sheet. Then very carefully slide the cooked biscuits onto a cooling rack with the paper, (be careful not to drop them as they will still be soft). See Photo 6 above. Leave to cool down. You can store once cooled in a tin or airtight container if not filling just now.
- Before adding the filling, it’s ideal to pair up your biscuits, so that they are all the same size/shape. Then open them back up and keep the tops next to the bottoms.
- Now take one cookie top (one that has a shape cut from the centre), and place on some baking/parchment paper. Next take a small sieve (preferably small, or a fine tea strainer works), and sieve a spoon of icing/powdered sugar over the top of the cookie, completely covering it in ‘snow’! This is optional but best done before sandwiching the cookies if there is a cut out. See Photo 8.
- Now get your jam/jelly ready. You can also use lemon curd or chocolate spread. (Here’s a link to my Plum & Orange Jam recipe). Originally I used slightly watered down jam, but found it better to use as is for these. Now spread on some jam/jelly or curd into the middle of the 'bottom biscuit', being careful not to go all the way to the edges. See Photo 9 below.
Sandwich Together
- Then gently position the 'top' cookie to its ‘bottom’ cookie and squeeze together gently, while holding the ends of the cookies (trying to avoid the sugar coating). See Photo 10 below.
- Doing one cookie at a time, means you don’t mix up the cookies that you paired earlier. For the cookies with a solid ‘top’ cookie, simply position on top of its partner and gently squeeze together. Then sieve over the icing/powdered sugar as before.
- Either serve now or store for later. Note some of the icing/powdered sugar does fade with time. You can choose to place inside cupcake or petit four paper cases depending on the size. This way you can even store on top of each other, in a tin or cupcake carry case. I like to store in cake tins.
Notes
JAM FILLING - use jam, jelly or preserve. A popular flavour is raspberry. Use any flavour you like. Here’s a link to my Plum & Orange Jam recipe.
CHILLING THE DOUGH - not only helps cookies keep their shape, but gives the gluten in the flour, a chance to relax after I worked it on mixing and rolling out.
Customize For Any Occasions - Perfect for Christmas time with Tree & Star, Valentine’s day with heart cutters or bunnies for Easter/Spring Time. You can also just use themed small cutters for cutting out the middle of the cookie.
See the main post before the recipe for tips on how to make soft cookies.
FREEZING OPTIONS - cut out dough can be frozen, or chilled rolled out dough in the fridge for 24 hours. For more info see before recipe. Baked sugar cookies can be frozen, but I have not tested with this & suspect they would lose their soft texture.
Use for single cookies for Royal Iced Cookies.
See my version of Seasonal Jammie Dodgers.
*Recipe Yield - approximately 18 sandwich cookies can be made, but dependending on size and shape of cutter & if cut-outs are used.
CHILLING THE DOUGH - not only helps cookies keep their shape, but gives the gluten in the flour, a chance to relax after I worked it on mixing and rolling out.
Customize For Any Occasions - Perfect for Christmas time with Tree & Star, Valentine’s day with heart cutters or bunnies for Easter/Spring Time. You can also just use themed small cutters for cutting out the middle of the cookie.
See the main post before the recipe for tips on how to make soft cookies.
FREEZING OPTIONS - cut out dough can be frozen, or chilled rolled out dough in the fridge for 24 hours. For more info see before recipe. Baked sugar cookies can be frozen, but I have not tested with this & suspect they would lose their soft texture.
Use for single cookies for Royal Iced Cookies.
See my version of Seasonal Jammie Dodgers.
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*Recipe Yield - approximately 18 sandwich cookies can be made, but dependending on size and shape of cutter & if cut-outs are used.