Homemade jammy dodgers

MAKES 10

50g (1¾oz) caster sugar 100g (3½oz) salted butter,

softened

120g (4½oz) self- raising flour,

plus extra for rolling 30g (1oz) cornflour

2 tsp semi- skimmed milk 1 tsp vanilla extract

75g (2¾oz) jam icing sugar, to dust

Line a Tala baking tray with baking parchment. the sugar and the softened butter in the large mixing bowl and cream together thoroughly with a spatula. Measure the vanilla extract and milk into the bowl and mix again. Add the flour and cornflour to the bowl – no need to sift – and stir. The mixture will seem impossibly dry at first, but keep mixing until it forms a soft dough. (You can abandon the spatula at this point and mix with your hand instead if you prefer.)

Gather the dough into a ball, transfer to a plate and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and stamp out 6.5cm (3in) circle shapes, repeating the process until all the dough is used up.

Place the circles on the lined baking tray, leaving a small gap between them in case they spread slightly in the oven (5mm (½in) maximum gap).

Leave half of the circles intact and use the small cutter to make holes in the rest of the circles.

Set the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3. Place the baking tray in the fridge to chill while the oven comes up to temperature, then bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the biscuits to cool slightly.

Place a teaspoon of jam on each intact circle, put a circle with a hole in it on top, then position the sandwiched cookie back on the baking tray.

the oven temperature to 150°C/Gas Mark 2 and place the cookies back in the oven for a minute, just to slightly melt the jam and stick the cookie together.

Allow the cookies to cool, then dust with icing sugar and serve.