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The Great British Bake Off is back!!! Yaaaay! As those of you who check out my blog regularly may know, I’m trying to make all of the Bake Off Technical Challenges. So this year I thought I would try to do a proper “Bake Off Bakealong” – i.e. making every week’s Technical Challenge as the weeks go by. I will try my best – don’t hold me too it though! So this week’s Technical are Paul’s Jammy Biscuits!
Week 2 of the 2020 Bake Off was the usual “biscuit week” that we see every year. The bakers had to make Brandy Snaps for their signature bake and had to make an interactive biscuit sculpture in the shape of their favourite childhood toy for the showstopper challenge. This week’s Technical Challenge was set by Paul and saw the bakers tackle his Jammy Biscuits. So that’s what I’ve been making this weekend, too!
Paul’s Jammy Biscuits
I was actually a bit annoyed at this week’s Technical Challenge, as Paul’s Jammy Biscuits are almost exactly the same as the July Bake Off Box Recipe for Vanilla and Strawberry Sandwich Biscuits. And those of you who read that post or saw the video will know that jammy biscuits with buttercream are not exactly my thing! So I was almost tempted to give this week’s Technical Challenge a miss – but then I didn’t want to already give up on this Technical Challenge Bake-along after Week 2! So I made these nonetheless.
What was good (better) about Paul’s Jammy Biscuits (you can find the original recipe here) compared to the Bake Off Box recipe, was that here you had to make the jam yourself, making it a bit more challenging. It also called for raspberry jam which I personally prefer over strawberry jam. In addition, one of my main issues with the July Bake Off Box was that it made you make far too much buttercream! Paul’s recipe below is a lot more conservative and you end up with just the right amount!
Making Paul’s Jammy Biscuits – Improvise with the Equipment!
On Bake Off, the contestants made these biscuits look really pretty by using a biscuit stamp to press a pattern onto the biscuits. Now, I am a sucker for baking gadgets and would have probably gone ahead and bought one if I had been able to! But I couldn’t see any on Amazon that looked like the one from Bake Off that didn’t cost £40! Maybe Lakeland will do them in the future, but I couldn’t find one for this bake. So instead, I used a knife to gently score the top of the biscuits to create a pattern. It’s not perfect and nowhere near as pretty as a stamp would have been, but better than nothing. It was quite time-consuming though, so I only did it for the top parts of the biscuits that you can see.
Also, I only had a slightly larger heart-shaped cutter, perhaps 3cm in diameter rather than the recommended 2cm. I think a smaller one does make the biscuits look cuter, but sometimes you just have to go with what you’ve got! I thankfully have plenty of fluted cutters, especially since I also got some in the July Bake Off Box, but these are the ones I have had for years and can highly recommend if you would like to invest. Otherwise, just improvise and use whatever cutters you have!
More Biscuit Recipes
Who doesn’t like a biscuit with their afternoon cup of tea? No one? Exactly! I have loads of other biscuit recipes on my blog, so go check out some of my favourites listed below:
- Mary Berry’s Viennese Whirls
- Best-ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Paul’s Wagon Wheel Biscuits
- Chocolate and Hazelnut Shortbread dipped in Chocolate | Haselnussbrot
- Traditional Scottish Shortbread
- Millionaire’s Shortbread | British Baking Classic
- Love Heart Sandwich Biscuits filled with Cherry Jam
- Chocolate Digestives | British Baking Classic
- Mixed Nut Butter Cookies (Vegan/Dairy-free)
- Maple and Walnut Biscuits
- Gingernut Biscuits | British Baking Classic
- Chocolate Orange Crescents | German Christmas Baking
- Mini Egg Cookies
- Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cookies
- Almond Shortbread Fingers
More Bake Off Technical Challenges
- Mary Berry’s Religieuses
- Mary Berry’s Fraisier Cake
- Paul Hollywood’s Hand-raised Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pies
- Mary Berry’s Bakewell Tart with feathered Icing
- Paul’s Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes
- Mary Berry’s Frosted Walnut Layer Cake
- Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf
- Mary Berry’s Homemade Jaffa Cakes
- Paul Hollywood’s Wagon Wheel Biscuits
- Mary Berry’s Victoria Sponge Cake
- Paul Hollywood’s Mini Pork Pies
- Mary Berry’s Viennese Whirls
- Prue’s Vegan Chocolate and Raspberry Tarts (S2UC Special)
- Pizza Star Bread (Junior Bake Off)
- Mary Berry’s Coffee and Walnut Battenberg Cake
- Paul’s Crusty White Cob
- Paul Hollywood’s Rainbow Bagels
- Prue Leith’s Malt Loaf
- Paul’s Jammy Biscuits
- Paul Hollywood’s Olive Ciabatta Bread Sticks with Homemade Tzatziki
- Prue Leith’s Sticky Toffee Puddings with Sesame Tuiles
- Prue Leith’s Prinzregententorte
- Paul Hollywood’s Baklava (22cm)
- Paul’s Caramel Biscuit Bars (Twix)
- Prue Leith’s Vegan Sausage Rolls
- Prue’s Sablé Breton Cake
- Paul Hollywood’s Sticky Belgian Buns
- Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
- Prue’s Garibaldi Biscuits with Feathered Chocolate Icing
- Paul Hollywood’s Pain au Raisins
- Paul’s Spicy Beef Tacos
- Paul Hollywood’s S’mores
- Prue Leith’s Pistachio Praline Ice Cream Cones
- Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Prue’s Vertical Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Raspberry Tarts
- Paul Hollywood’s Devonshire Splits
Paul’s Jammy Biscuits | Bake Off Technical Challenge
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE RASPBERRY JAM
- 100g raspberries
- 125g jam sugar
FOR THE BISCUIT DOUGH
- 120g unsalted butter, softened
- 120g caster sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 215g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 25g cornflour
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM:
- 50g unsalted butter, softened
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 100g icing sugar
TO FINISH:
- 20g icing sugar
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- Electric whisk
- Silicone spatula
- 7cm fluted cookie cutter
- Small heart-shaped cutter (2cm diameter)
- Angled palette knife
- Two large baking trays
- 1 small piping bag
Method:
- Start by preparing the raspberry jam. Place the raspberries into a saucepan and mash them with a potato masher. Then add the jam sugar and place over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil the jam for 2-3 minutes until thick.
- Strain the jam into a bowl through a sieve to get rid of any pips from the raspberries to create a smooth jam. Then set aside to cool and thicken until needed.
- To make the dough, add the butter and caster sugar to a mixing bowl and use an electric whisk to cream them together for 3-5 minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
- Crack in the egg and add the vanilla extract, then beat them in for a minute until well combined.
- Add in the flour and cornflour and mix with a spatula to form a crumbly dough. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough briefly until smooth.
- Dive the dough into two portions, flatten into a disk and wrap in clingfilm. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30-40 minutes, or place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes until firm.
- In the meantime, line two large baking trays with baking paper.
- Once chilled, roll out the dough on a floured surface using a floured rolling pin until about 3mm thick. Turn the pastry while you’re rolling to make sure it doesn’t stick. Re-rolling any of the scraps, cut out 24 biscuits using the 7cm fluted cutter.
- If you want, you can use a biscuit stamp or a knife to create a pattern in the top of 12 of the biscuits (you can also do all 24 if you want the underside decorated as well). Then use the small heart-shaped cutter to stamp out the centre of the 12 patterned biscuits.
- Carefully transfer the biscuits onto the prepared baking trays. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes until firm (or 15 minutes in the freezer). This will harden the butter again and make sure the biscuits don’t spread in the oven.
- Near the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan.
- Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until they start to lightly brown around the edges. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- Make the buttercream while you wait for the biscuits to cool. Beat the softened butter with the vanilla for 3-4 minutes until paler in colour. Mix in half the icing sugar at a time (start slowly or use a spatula to begin with to stop it from flying everywhere) and beat until smooth.
- Lightly dust the top biscuits that have the love heart-shaped hole in them with icing sugar and set aside.
- Spread about half a tablespoon of the buttercream on the biscuits without a hole in them (they will form the bottom), followed by a teaspoonful of raspberry jam. Leave a small border around the edges of each biscuit. Then sandwich with a biscuit with a hole.
- Leave the biscuits to set in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and serve.
