chia jam

Jammie Dodgers, Bo’s Kitchen style. Jammie Dodgers hail from the UK and consist of a sticky, mega sweet jam sandwiched between two shortbread cookies. These traditional biscuits used to be vegan, but as with most accidentally vegan snacks, they decided to put an animal product back in the mix for no apparent reason, so I had to make my own.

This simple cookie recipe surprised me with how delicious it was, considering it only has five ingredients! The jam is a chia jam with strawberry and plum, if you have any left over it tastes great on toast or on top of oatmeal. They keep really well in the fridge, as the coconut oil helps to keep them firm. They’re made with coconut sugar and coconut oil, far healthier than their sugar laden, non vegan cookie twin. Of course I’ve made this vegan and E number free! I made these with spelt flour, but I’m sure you could use a gluten free flour too. I may give them a whirl with buckwheat flour next.I’ve eaten most of this batch to myself so I know they must be good! I’d love to hear how you get on if you try this recipe, I’m already preparing for my second batch tomorrow…

Recipe

Cookie

• 200g coconut oil, melted
• 130g coconut sugar
• 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tbsp water)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g spelt flour

Strawberry and plum chia jam

• 1 cup strawberries, chopped
• 4 fresh plums, pitted and chopped
• 3 tbsp Organic Burst chia seeds
• 2 tbsp maple syrup/agave syrup
• 1/4 cup water

1. Preheat your oven to 180°c and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
2. Make your chia jam by adding all jam ingredients to a small saucepan and bringing to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for around 30 minutes until jammy, stirring every now and then. Add a little more water if you need to.
3. To make the cookie dough, mix coconut oil and coconut sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Then add flax egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
4. Add the spelt flour, using your spoon at first and then your hands,  to make sure it all comes together as a dough.
5. Leave dough to chill for 15 minutes in the fridge. Make sure your chia jam is set aside to cool. Sprinkle a little spelt flour on your work surface and roll the dough out to about 5mm thick. Cut out your dough using one round cookie cutter and one heart cutter. Cut out as many cookie shapes as possible and use the heart cutter for half of them.
6. Use a spatula to carefully lay the cookies on your prepared baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are lightly coloured, but not brown at the edges (they will firm as they cool). Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.
7. Using a teaspoon, dollop a heaping spoon of jam on your cookie and gently press the heart shape cookie on top. Sprinkle with a tiny amount of icing sugar if serving immediately, or keep in the fridge to enjoy later.