Jammie Dodgers and Iced ring biscuits

When it comes to baking during the summer holidays I have to say I’m well up for it- sometimes more than my kids are. So, when I was approached by The Great Little Trading Company to do a guest post for their blog I instantly jumped at the chance. Then I realised that I have a pre-teen who likes to stay in her room and watch Netflix or play Minecraft all day long and after having a baking mad mum is kind of a bit over it and a nine year old who has been baking all on her own all summer long – making up her own recipes- some delicious. Some not so much! So, plan B. Borrow someone else’s kid!

The plan

I was asked to come up with a new recipe to bake with kids in order to keep them entertained during the school holidays. I decided that iced rings were a great idea. Kids love to cut out biscuits and to play around with ‘wet icing’ and I thought I could teach the older ones how to do a more difficult technique. Great for all ages I thought.

What actually happened?

Well, once I had borrowed my friend’s gorgeous four year old daughter Dahlia we got down to it. The GLTC named aprons were put on (they came in cute cotton bags which Dahlia’s dog Rusty was put to bed in- as it made the perfect sleeping bag), hands were washed and we were ready to go.

I made the dough ahead to save time and let them cut out the ring biscuits. The thing is, I have a ton of cookie cutters- a whole drawer full in fact, which Darcey decided to open up and share with Dahlia. Cutting out circles and rings is no fun when there are cats and fairies, butterflies, hands and bunnies to be had.  Plan abandoned… kind of.

I made some ring and circle biscuits and so did Beau. Dahlia and Darcey made everything else they could get their hands on. Beau decided that she wanted to make Jammie Dodgers which was great as this recipe works equally well for dodgers as it does for iced rings.

Too blue

I made up the Royal icing ready for the kids to add their own colours to. I have these new Wilton colours from Lakeland which are brilliant. They come with a colour chart and you add a certain amount of drops of colour to get the specific colour you’re after. A drop is all you need. Each girl was given a bowl of white royal icing to colour and before I could turn around and grab a mini spatula Darcey had squirted a ton of the turquoise into her bowl. “Nooooo!!” was my instant reaction and I was right. For the rest of the day there were blue hands, VERY blue tongues and blue t-shirts. Even once the biscuits were iced and left to harden a day later the blue was still staining tongues when you ate them!

I used sandwich bags tied with rubber bands as piping bags. They’re easy to hold and control and cheap as chips. Just snip off the corner and away they went. And they really did love the icing. One squirt for the biscuit. One for the mouth. Dahlia told me that she had to stop the icing dribbling out at the end! She had so much sugar that day I think she could have flown home! (Sorry Fou!)

I decided to still make the pattern on the iced fingers and both Beau and Darcey had a good go at it

Click here to print this recipe 

Jammie Dodgers and Iced ring biscuits

Biscuits ingredients

• 50g caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g plain flour
• 20g cornflour

Royal icing to decorate

• 500g icing sugar
• 1 egg white (from a medium egg)
• food colours

To make the biscuits

1. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until just combined. I use a stand mixer till it’s all incorporated and then use my hands to really work the butter into the flour. Be careful not to over work the dough as this will give you tough biscuits that spread during baking.
2. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.
3. Preheat your oven to 180ºC (Fan oven160ºC) and line baking trays with silicon paper.
4. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface so it’s around the thickness of a £1 coin. Let the kids have a go and cut out shapes to their hearts content.
5. Place the biscuits on a baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges start to brown.
6. Leave to cool on a rack for 10-20 minutes while you make the royal icing.

To make the royal icing

1. Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer (you can use a hand held mixer too but it makes a bit of a dust cloud in your kitchen!) Add the egg white and mix by hand until completely blended.
2. Place the bowl in the mixer and mix for 4-5 minutes. If the icing looks too dry add a little water at a time so it is softer and more fluid.
3. Place the royal icing in a few bowls then add a drop or two of food colouring to each and mix.
4. Place the icing into piping bags (or sandwich bags tied with elastic bands) and snip off the tip.
5. Let the kids have some icing fun. Leave the decorated biscuits to harden for an hour or more before eating or storing.

To make the pattern on the iced rings

Cover the biscuit in white icing. Immediately afterwards pipe horizontal lines across. Using a toothpick drag the lines in one direction at regular intervals. Then repeat in the other direction in between the first lines. Hey presto! Cool iced rings.

To make the Jammie Dodgers

Take one circle biscuit and one ring which are the same size. In a heat proof bowl add a tablespoon of jam. We used strawberry but anything goes. Heat the jam in the microwave for 30 seconds. You want it to be warm and runny but not bubbling. Use a silicon pastry brush to brush jam across the circle biscuit then place the ring on top. Leave to cool. Hey presto Jammie dodgers.

I think a great time was had by all – especially once the biscuits were made and devoured! Hope you had fun this summer holiday. What have you been baking with the kids? I’d love to know.

EmmaMT

Disclaimer: No child was harmed in the eating of too much royal icing in this post! Thanks to The Great Little Trading Company for asking me to write a guest post over on their blog – which you can see here. Thanks also to Theoda for letting Dahlia come and play ‘how much icing can I eat before dinner!” Love you guys. x