PBJ Jammy Dodgers

PBJ Jammy Dodgers
Sponsored By Lyle’s Golden Syrup

Jammy Dodger, a supermarket classic, a favourite of the biscuit tin. Two crisp biscuits sandwiched together with jam, simple, nostalgic, delicious. I say delicious but a shop bought biscuit like this can almost always be made better at home, using better tasting ingredients and less industrial textures. This recipe is clearly not for a classic dodger but is in the form of and inspired by the classic biscuits. The cookie itself has added flavour and texture in the form of salted peanuts. The dough also uses a little Lyle’s Golden Syrup which adds a warm caramel tone to the biscuit which goes wonderfully with the peanuts.

The filling is a classic jam but with added jazz hands in the form of a peanut butter buttercream. The flavour is balanced nicely again with the addition of the Lyle’s Golden Syrup which also adds a really nice creamy texture to the filling. 

Do These Freeze?

Sandwich cookies like this are not the best candidates for freezing once baked but the dough itself can be frozen for up to a couple months.

Do you have to use peanuts?

I know some people are allergic to peanuts or just don’t like them and the good news is you can happily change the nut to a different flavour in the cookie and for the filling you could either make a traditional buttercream or simply use jam without a secondary filling.

What Type of peanut butter should you use to bake with?

Generally when it comes to baking it is better to use a commercial smooth peanut butter, unless otherwise advised. Natural peanut butter, the type that sometimes separates and has a layer of oil on top, can cause issues with texture and doesn’t always blend with other ingredients very well.

Tips on Rolling

This a dough with a high percentage of butter which can mean the dough is a little tricky to handle. To get around this make sure the dough has been thoroughly chilled before using. When you take the dough out of the fridge it will be cold and firm and hard to roll. Instead of leaving it for 10 minutes and then rolling (which can lead to a soft and sticky dough) simply bash it a little with a rolling pin. This might seem counter intuitive but this action makes the dough pliable without warming it up too much, making it easier to roll before the butter softens too much. If you are worried about the dough becoming too sticky or warm you can also roll the dough between parchment paper and transfer to the fridge if it becomes too hard to handle

PBJ Jammy Dodgers
Makes 25-30

Peanut Biscuit
325g plain flour
75g salted peanuts
150g caster sugar
225g unsalted butter, diced and chilled
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
50g Lyle’s Golden Syrup

Peanut Butter Filling
100g unsalted butter, room temperature
100g smooth peanut butter
150g icing sugar
50g Lyle’s Golden Syrup
150g raspberry jam

To make the biscuit dough add a little of the flour and the peanuts to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the peanuts are finely ground. Add the remaining flour and salt and process briefly to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. In a jug whisk together the egg, yolk and the Lyle’s Golden Syrup, whisking together until the syrup has dissolved into the egg. Pour this into the food processor and pulse just until the dough starts to clump together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to gently form into a uniform dough. Divide into two equal portions and press into discs, wrapping in cling film and then refrigerating until firm.

When you’re ready to roll out the cookies preheat the oven to 160C (140C fan) and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface roll out a portion of dough until it is about 3mm thick and then using a 7cm round cookie cutter cut as many cookies as possible, setting the scraps aside. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking trays and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat this process with the second portion of dough. Take the cookies from the fridge and use a 3cm round cookie cutter to remove the middle from half of the cookies. Gently reform the scraps of dough into a ball and then refrigerate as before whilst you bake off the cookies. This dough can be rolled out again for more cookies.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes or until just starting to turn golden on the edges. I bake the cookies lower than usual as it crisps the cookies evenly throughout without over browning them. Allow to cool on the baking tray for a couple minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the peanut butter filling place the butter and peanut butter into a large bowl and using an electric mixer beat together until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar and Lyle’s Golden Syrup along with a small pinch of salt and beat together until light and fluffy. If the mixture feels a little stiff add a tablespoon or so of double cream.

To assemble the cookies pipe a ring of the peanut butter filling around the edge of each base cookie and spoon a little jam into the centre. If you like a little added texture you can also sprinkle with a little extra chopped peanuts. Dust all the ring cookies with icing sugar then place one on top of each bottom cookie, sandwiching together. Once assembled the cookies are best within a day or two.

Hazelnut Cookie Butter Krembos

I have spent the last year almost exclusively working on super simple baking and whilst that has been a nice change of pace I have missed the opportunity to play around and experiment with more complex recipes, which I oddly always find most enjoyable, maybe it’s the challenge or the sense of achievement when the recipe works out? Todays recipe falls slightly in the middle of those two styles, its definitely not the easiest of recipes but also each element used isn’t itself difficult to make, its just a longer than normal process, but a process well worth attempting. 

Now before we get to the recipe I need to talk a little about the origin, not for any seo reasons or to get better google rankings, but to answer some cultural questions. When I posted an image of these treats whilst I was working on the recipe people from all over the world thought I was making something for their country, often a treat they grew up with. This meant people thought they were Flødeboller from Denmark, Tunnocks Tea Cakes from the UK, Mallowmars from the US, Schokokuss from Germany and so on and so on. My version is most in common with a Krembo made at Tatte Bakery in Boston, in the US, which is an Israeli owned business. They do however differ from a traditional Krembo in the flavours present in the cookie and in the marshmallow and are very similar to all of the above cookies so you could in good faith refer to them by any of those names. I call them Krembos as that is cookie I was inspired by directly. 

Interestingly, at least to a baking nerds like me, it is actually hard to track down exactly where this style of cookie comes from. The oldest commercial versions I can find are Whippets from Montreal which were first marketed in 1901, although it seems likely they had an origin story before that. German Schokokuss were first commercially made in 1920 but can be traced back at least to 1829 and they themselves supposedly originated in Denmark in the early 1800’s. The truth of the original marshmallow and chocolate covered cookie may not be crystal clear but it seems likely that the versions we know today are somewhat related. 

Cookie Butter Krembos
Makes 15

Hazelnut Sable Cookies
140g unsalted butter, room temperature
125g caster sugar
1 large egg
280g plain flour
100g chopped hazelnuts, toasted
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Filling
250g speculoss/biscoff cookie butter
3 large egg whites
240g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Coating
500g dark or milk chocolate (I used a dark milk chocolate with 60% cocoa solids)
50g coconut oil
Cocoa nibs, for garnish

For the cookie dough you may recognise the recipe as it is based on Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Punitions' (the famed cookie from Poilane bakery in Paris) from her brilliant book Paris Sweets, with a simple hazelnut twist. To make the dough place the butter into a food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and pulse until evenly combined. Add the egg and pulse to combine. Scrape the food processor down and add the flour, hazelnuts and salt and pulse just until starting to come together. The dough should look like a crumble but when squeezed together should hold together as a dough. 

@theboywhobakes

Easy hazelnut butter cookies (you’ll need this recipe for a video later in the week) #tiktokcookies #tiktokbaking #baking #cookies #hazelnut #sable

♬ Put Your Records On - Ritt Momney

Tip the mixture out onto the work surface and use your hands to bring together as a uniform dough. Cut into two pieces and press into discs. Wrap one disc in clingfilm and refrigerate or freeze for another time or use. You can also bake that dough off as simple and delicious hazelnut butter cookies.Place the other half of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out until about 5mm thick. Slide this slab of cookie dough onto a baking tray and refrigerate for an hour or until firm. 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan). Remove from the fridge and cut out as many 6cm round cookies as possible before re-rolling the scraps to get to 15. Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking tray and bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove and set aside to cool. 

Scrape the cookie butter into a disposable piping bag, squeeze and massage a little to soften the butter then snip off the end of the bag and pipe a small mound of the butter into the middle of each cookie. Place the cookies into the freezer whilst you make the meringue. For the Swiss meringue topping place the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar into a large bowl and set over a pan of simmering water and gently stir until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and use an electric mixer to whisk on high speed until cool and holding stiff peaks. Add the vanilla and whisk to combine. 

Scrape the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip. Carefully pipe meringue onto the cookies, holding the tip close to the cookie butter so that it envelopes the cookie butter and meets the cookie. Whilst still piping lift the tip of the bag slightly and pipe a small mound of meringue onto the mound below, lifting again to pipe a final smaller mound, giving a look of a snowman. Repeat with all of the cookies and then transfer the Krembo’s to the freezer for at least an hour before the next step. At this point the Krembos can be frozen for at least a week.

For the chocolate coating melt together the chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Pour the chocolate into a small container that is deeper than the Krembo’s but wide enough for them to be dipped in easily. Set aside for about 30 minutes for the chocolate to cool. 

Remove the Krembo’s from the freezer and one at a time dip into the chocolate mixture. Let the excess chocolate drip back into the container and then set onto a piece of parchment and sprinkle with cocoa nibs before the chocolate has a chance to set. Once all dipped store in the fridge. 

The chocolate mixture makes more than you need but it is hard to dip making any less. You can cut the recipe in half and simply pour the chocolate if you prefer. Any extra chocolate coating can be used as magic shell topping for ice cream, it will set hard as soon as poured on cold ice cream. 

Kept refrigerated these will keep for roughly 3-4 days.