Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 10-12 minutes
Makes 16 cookies
ingredients
140g unsalted butter, slightly softened and cubed
225g self-raising flour, sifted (plus for rolling)
128g caster sugar
½ tsp icing sugar
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 pinches salt
4 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam
Icing sugar to dust
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C
Put the flour and sugars into a mixing bowl.
Add the butter and rub in to resemble fine crumbs — or do this in a food processor.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix to a dough.
Knead until smooth then wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour until firm — this can be done the night before.
Roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin then cut out stars, hearts or circles.
Place on two greased or lined baking sheets.
Cut the centres out of half of the cookies with a small round or shaped cutter. Refrigerate for 10 minutes before baking.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden.
Remove from oven, after 5 minutes transfer from the baking sheet to a wire rack.
Heat the jam in a pan over a medium heat for about 2 minutes then leave to cool.
Mix a little bit of water with icing sugar in a small bowl, and set aside.
When the biscuits are cold, dust the top biscuits with icing sugar through a fine sieve.
Lay base cookies out and gently rub a smear of sugary water around the outer edge of each one to help them stick together. Spread a teaspoon of cold jam over each base cookie but do not go to the edges.
Carefully top with the dusted cookie, and serve with a kiss to the person you love most in the world.
