Jammie Bodgers

Yesterday, as I was struggling to keep my eyes open in the 2 hour math class, it suddenly began to rain. I say suddenly, 'coz it was totally unexpected at this time of the year.The sound of the pouring rain, alongside the lecturer's lecture sounded like  a lullaby to our ears- as a matter of fact, our lecturer mentioned this too. I had read that in India, the first shower always leaves the smell of fresh sweet mud.Well, this was not the first shower, probably it was the last shower of the year, but the smell of mud was overpowering. So much so that, I found myself taking deep breaths, enjoying the smell of mud, pure mud. It was one of the few days, when I was glad to be in India.

Rain has this power to refresh our mind. The water clears our mind and we feel energized.At the same time, it makes us lazy, and I could already see myself enjoying my coffee on my sofa, reading a book and enjoying the sound of the rain. And then I began to wonder, what should I prepare to go with my coffee? First I thought of preparing some tea cake, something spicy and flavourful. But then, that would be too typical. Then I decided to prepare some sizzling brownies(brownie a la mode). I felt that would be the perfect combination for a dark rainy evening(did someone say my mind works in a strange manner?). So the sizzling brownie was settled and I went back to solving my math problems and occasionally glancing at my watch.
When I came home, I realized we didn't have any ice-cream in the freezer and there was no way I could buy one at that time. So the brownie was forgotten and I got myself occupied with some other work. But now when I look back, I think these Jammie Bodgers would have been a lovely treat. I had prepared these about a week back. They are super easy, really quick and taste better than the store brought ones.

Jammie Bodgers
Makes about 15 large cookies
Ingredients:
Refined flour (maida): 2 cups
Frozen butter, chopped: 125 grams(I used refrigerated ones)
Caster sugar: ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon
Egg, lightly beaten: 1
Vanilla essence: 1 teaspoon

Filling:
Strawberry jam: 4-5 tablespoons(I used Kissan mixed fruit jam)
Unsalted butter, softened: 50 grams
Icing sugar: ½ cup

Method :
Sift the flour into a bowl and rub the butter with your fingertips. Add the
sugar, egg and vanilla essence and mix into a soft dough. Knead the dough
gently on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease two baking trays.
Roll out the dough thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut into rounds with a two-and-a-half inch cutter. Re-roll the trimmings and cut into more rounds. You should get around thirty rounds.
Place fifteen rounds on a baking tray. With a small three-fourth inch heart-shaped cookie cutter cut out the centres of the remaining rounds. Place the cut-out rounds on the second baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven for about twelve minutes or until pale golden. Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
For the filling, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Spread the butter cream evenly on the whole cookies. Spoon a little jam over the butter cream, place the cut-out cookies on top, pressing gently so that the jam fills the heart-shaped space.

Note:
I used a doughnut cutter for fifteen rounds and a cookie cutter of the same diameter for the remaining fifteen rounds. Also, I found it difficult to roll out the whole dough, so I took lemon-sized balls of the dough and rolled them out.Buttercream is used as an adhesive, so don't omit it.