Happy 1st December!
Yes, that’s right. Christmas is coming. FAST. But there’s only so many mince pies and stollen bites that I can handle over the festive season. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a lot, but when I saw Edd Kimber’s recipe for Amaretto Creams in the November Waitrose Magazine, I knew I HAD to make them. Once you’ve read this, you’ll want to make them too. Trust me.
Don’t they look fabulous?
So, in short. These are the BEST jammy dodgers you’ll ever experience. Think buttery biscuits and raspberry jam all rounded off with a layer of boozy amaretto buttercream. I know, you’re drooling right now aren’t you? Too right you are. According to Edd, you can use brandy or Baileys, but for me, this amaretto combination cannot be beaten.
These lasted a total of two days. There were about fifty. For the main part of these biscuits’ fate, only two people were involved. I’ll let you do the maths. If you can’t face such extreme biscuit-eating sessions, then you can freeze the biscuits and buttercream separately – but who wants to do that? EAT ALL THE BISCUITS.
It takes a bit of time to put all these together, but it’s worth it. I recommend you pop into the supermarket on your way home, pick up the ingredients, and then head to the kitchen and get baking!
Ingredients
For the biscuits:
- 425g plain flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 200g caster sugar
- 225g unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Amaretto buttercream
- 125g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 330g icing sugar
- 3 tbsp amaretto liqueur
- 100g raspberry jam
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment
- For the biscuits, put flour, salt and sugar in a bowl and mix together with a spoon
- Add the butter (I cut it into small cubes) and rub it into the mix using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs
- Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla paste and use a wooden spoon to bring the dough together, then use your hands to bring the dough together
- Once you’ve brought it together into a smooth ball, divide into two pieces, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge to chill for an hour
- Once chilled, lightly flour the surface and then roll out one of the batches until 0.3cm thick
- Using a cookie cutter (mine had a diameter of approx 6-7cm) cut out as many biscuits as possible, set the offcuts aside then re-roll them and cut again. This may have to be done in several stages as you’ll get several more biscuits than you have room on your tray
- Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges, leave to cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
- Repeat this process with the second batch of dough but this time, use festive cutters to cut out shapes from the centre of some of the biscuits before you put them in the oven. These will form the top of your sandwiches.
- Once you’ve done this with all the biscuits you can start on the buttercream. To do this, put the butter in a large bowl and use electric beaters to cream it until fluffy
- Gradually add the icing sugar a little at the time until combined and then go to town on the beating until it’s all light and fluffy – try to resist eating it at this stage. It gets better.
- Next, add your amaretto and mix it to combine
- Now it’s time to assemble! So, take your whole biscuits and using a spoon or pipe, dollop a layer onto the base and then use a knife to smooth it out. Add the jam on top into the centre and then place a cutout biscuit on top of that.
- Press the whole lot together so the jam oozes to the sides but don’t let it drip over the edge!
- Repeat with all the biscuits and then dust the lot with icing sugar (I ran out unfortunately) and arrange for top instagram shots
Best presented with Christmas nails!
ENJOY!
They look so delicious!! ❤