Jam-Filled Spectacle Shortbread Biscuits

📝 Ingredients

• 150 g plain flour
• 60 g unsalted butter, very soft
• 40 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 60 g strawberry jam
• 1 tsp icing sugar (for the top)

🍴 Utensils

• Mixing bowl
• Spatula
• Rolling pin + baking paper
• 6 cm round cutter
• Baking tray
• Small sieve

📖 Steps

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the soft butter, sugar and salt with a spatula until smooth and creamy. Add the beaten egg and mix vigorously: the mixture may look a little lumpy, but that's fine.
2. Tip in the flour all at once and work it in first with the spatula, then with your fingertips, just until the dough comes together into a smooth ball. Don't knead it for long, or the biscuits will be hard rather than crumbly.
3. Flatten the ball into a disc and roll it out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 4 mm. Lay it flat in the freezer for 15 minutes: well-chilled dough cuts cleanly. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 °C.
4. Peel off the top sheet and cut out discs with the cutter. In half of the discs, cut two small holes of about 1.5 cm using the wide end of a piping nozzle or the tip of a small knife, to make the 'spectacles'.
5. Gather up the trimmings, roll them out again and return them to the fridge if the dough softens, to make about 24 discs in total. Arrange them 2 cm apart on the baking tray lined with baking paper, in two batches if necessary.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 180 °C, until the edges are just lightly golden: the centre stays pale, which is normal. The discs with holes bake a little faster, so keep an eye on them. Leave to cool completely; the biscuits firm up as they cool.
7. Dust the discs with holes with icing sugar through a small sieve. Loosen the jam by stirring it with a spoon, then spread a level teaspoon on each whole disc, leaving a 5 mm border.
8. Carefully place a disc with holes on top of each jam-covered disc and press lightly so the jam rises into the holes, without breaking the biscuit. This makes about 12 spectacle biscuits, or 3 per person.