Lorraine Pascale's jammie dodgers and melting Viennese whirls
It's the Easter holidays and if you're already in dire need of a tea break, then Lorraine is here to help. She's got two recipes to help entertain the children in the kitchen for a few hours, and at the end you'll be rewarded with a biscuit for that much needed cuppa!
Raspberry jammie dodgers
Serves: makes 12 biscuits
Ingredients
100g caster sugar200g butter, softenedSeeds of half a vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract1 egg280g plain flour, plus extra for dusting60g ground almondsIcing sugar, for dusting
For the filling
100g jam (I love raspberry seedless)1 tsp lemon juice or water
Equipment
8cm straight-sided round cookie cutter3cm straight sided heart shaped or round cookie cutter
Method
Cream together the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the vanilla and beat in the egg, and then gradually stir in the flour and almonds until it is all combined. Squidge the dough together, wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes, until firm.
Preheat the oven to 180C / fan 160C / 350F / gas 4 and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thickness and cut out 24 rounds with the 8cm cutter. Arrange them on the lined baking sheets. Using the 3cm cutter, stamp out a smaller heart or round from the centre of twelve of the biscuit rounds. Remove the small hearts or rounds, wrap them in cling film and put them in an airtight container to bake on another day.
Bake all of the large biscuits for 10-12 minutes, until cooked through, and then remove them from the oven and leave them to cool. These biscuits remain pale and a little soft when baked, but they will firm up as they cool.
Put the jam in a bowl and stir in the lemon juice or water to loosen up. Once the biscuits are completely cool, they are ready for the jam. Dollop 1 heaped tsp of jam into the centre of one of the whole round biscuits, leaving a border of about 1.5cm all the way round the outside of the biscuit. This will make sure that the jam does not squelch out of the sides when the top goes on. Repeat with the rest of the whole biscuit rounds.
Place one of the biscuits with the cut-out centre on top of a jam-topped biscuit. Press it down gently and then repeat with the other biscuits. Sprinkle over some icing sugar to serve. These are best eaten on the day they are made. If you are making them in advance, keep the biscuits in an airtight container and fill them with jam just before serving.
Melting Viennese whirls
Serves: makes about 28 biscuits
Ingredients
225g butter softened50g icing sugar, plus extra for dustingSeeds of 1 vanilla pod, or 2 tsp vanilla extract1 egg30g cornflour225g plain flourPinch of salt3 tbsp whole milk
For the filing
50g butter, softened100g icing sugarSeeds of half a vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract60g seedless raspberry jam
Equipment
Piping bag with 1.5cm star nozzlePiping bag with 2cm star nozzle (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C / fan 160C / 350F / gas 4 and line two baking sheets with baking parchment
Cream together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla using a wooden spoon until the mixture is a little lighter and fluffier. Add the egg and mix it to combine, and then add the cornflour, flour, salt and milk. Use a spatula to fold it all together until the dough is smooth and uniform.
Spoon the mixture into the piping bag fitted with the 1.5cm star nozzle and then pipe 4cm rosettes onto the lined baking sheets. Repeat until you have used up all of the mixture – you should get 28 biscuits.
Pop the biscuits into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the biscuits are pale golden brown and firm. When they are baked, remove them from the oven and leave to cool completely.
As the biscuits are cooling, make the filling. Mix together the butter and icing sugar in a bowl with the vanilla. Beat really hard until the mixture is light and fluffy - I usually do this with a wooden spoon as the amount of mixture is too small for a stand mixed or hand held electric whisk.
When the biscuits are completely cool, turn fourteen of them over so that they are flat side up, and spoon a small blob of the buttercream filling onto their flat side. You could also pipe o the buttercream using a piping bag fitted with a 2cm star shaped nozzle, if you fancy.
Give the jam a good stir to loosen it up a little and then top the buttercream with1 tsp of jam. Place the remaining biscuits on top to sandwich the filling so you end up with fourteen delicious biscuits.
Put the Viennese whirls on a plate, dust with some icing sugar and serve
Recipe taken from Bake by Lorraine Pascale