homemade jammie dodgers
It's Doctor Who week on ! I usually try to limit the sharing of my nerdliness on the blog, but I'm so excited about the Doctor Who premiere this Saturday! And when I found this awesome cookie jar on Amazon, I knew Doctor Who week was meant to be.
If you're not a Doctor Who fan, you should be! I think it is one of the most brilliant TV shows ever made. And I feel like with each season, it just gets better and better! The gist of it is that the main character, known only as The Doctor, has a blue police box (called a Tardis) that allows him to travel through time and space. He picks up different companions in different seasons, and the doctor himself can regenerate (which means he can be played by different actors). I'll confess that I haven't watched many of the older episodes (the ones made pre-2000's) but I've loved the show since the Christopher Eccleston/Billie Piper days. Nowadays, the doctor is played by the hilarious Matt Smith, and I think he's great! To add to his charm, he's really the first doctor that has expressed any food preferences at all, which means that now there are Doctor Who-themed foods to eat!
I'm excited to start the week off with a classic British treat... Jammie Dodgers! They're actually pretty popular outside of Doctor Who, too, but I hadn't heard of them before the show. There's one episode in particular in which the doctor pretends that a Jammie Dodger is a self-destruct button for his Tardis:
We've found packaged Jammie Dodgers at World Market before and enjoyed them, but I was excited to try a homemade version. They turned out awesome! They have all charm of the original cookies, but with more depth of flavor, and a more delicate texture. They're really just shortbread sandwich cookies with jam in between, but I think it's much more fun to call them Jammie Dodgers! And the fact that you need a teeny tiny little cookie cutter to make them just makes them all the more sweet.
I found my tiny heart cookie cutter at Joann's next to the cake decorating supplies. (I think it's actually supposed to be a fondant cutter.) It worked perfect for the cookies, though!
These cookies are seriously delicious, and would be fun for any occasion (not just a Doctor Who-themed party). I think they'd be awesome for a little girl's tea party, or with hot chocolate at Christmastime. Enjoy!
Jammie Dodgers
adapted from Rock Recipes
2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1 cup confectioner's sugar
pinch salt
1 cup plus 2 tbsp cold butter cut in cubes
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg plus one egg yolk
12 teaspoons of jam (I used blackberry)
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk together the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, then add to the dry mixture and mix until a soft dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured countertop, and cut into circles (I used a fluted biscuit cutter that was 2 inches in diameter). Using a small cookie cutter (or an apple corer) cut a small shape out of the center of half of the cookies. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until very lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool slightly, then spoon about 1 teaspoon of jam onto the bottom halves of the cookies. Top with the other half, and put back into the oven for 5 minutes to set the jam. Let cool 15-20 minutes before removing from the pan.
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