I hope its not too late to wish my readers Ramadhan Mubarak... we are on our 13th day in the holy month of Ramadhan... for the first time Sonia is able to fast the whole day... last yr she only managed to fast for half a day for a couple of days bef she started to tell stories like... "my tummy aches each time i see my kindy friends eat during break time"... ishhh she and her "always has a reason" attitude... i remember Hairi started fasting as early as 5 yrs old and only started his nonsense growing up stage when he was in the army ... one thing for sure... that episode in his life has taught me a lot abt "redha" (resign) ..... am just glad that it didnt last that long.. hes a working man now... has a fiancee and is saving his butt off for his big day lol
Anyway ever since we got home fm our back-to-back trip... i felt rejuvenated... my body feels rested... i had my massage while in Bangkok and KL... i got to rest well and sleep in as long as i wanted.. i also managed to taste a few good desserts during my recent trips... one of them is this Jammers... the first time i had it was when i was at Knur house.. had a bite and fell in love with it straight away... knew i had to try and bake it myself but had to wait till we are done with Surabaya... eh talking abt Surabaya... i really like that place... i had never been there and didnt know what to expect but both Sonia and I agree that Surabaya is 100% better than Medan... oh Medannnn.... lets just say... i dont like that episode in our life!! huhu
Alrighty i better get on with this recipe... its fm none other than.. Dorie Greenspan : From my home to yours... we love the taste... texture of this Jammers... i didnt use store bought jam but instead cooked my own berry compote.. i also added an extra dash of Fleur de Sel on top bef i bake em... major love!!!
Sablé Dough
2 sticks (1 cup / 8 ounces / 227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar (3.5 oz/ 100 g)
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted (1 oz / 28 g)
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably fine sea salt
2 large egg yolks (7 teaspoons / 35 ml. / 1.3 oz / 37 g), at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (9.6 oz / 272 g)
Method
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 of the egg yolks and vanilla, again beating until the mixture is homogeneous.
Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and the counter from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek—if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. (If most of the flour is incorporated but you’ve still got some in the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of the flour into the dough.) The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it come together in a ball—and it shouldn’t. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you’re aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy (rather than smooth) dough. Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.
***variation: you can make a lemon-y dough by omitting the vanilla and adding the zest of one lemon to the granulated sugar. Use your fingers to rub it in and release oils from lemon. Proceed as directed.
Brown Sugar Streusel
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of ground cinnamon
Melt butter in a small saucepan on stove or in microwave. Add the rest of the ingredients all at once and stir with a fork to form crumbs. You should have a kind of wet sand texture. Cover and set aside until ready to use.
Assembling and baking the Cookies:
You need 1 recipe of sablé cookie dough, 1 recipe of streusel, and some jam or preserves (i use berry homemade compote)
You also need 8-10 3-inch x 1.5 inch metal ring molds or a whoopie pie pan.
In either case, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Tart Ring Method: Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Roll dough to just shy of 1/2-inch thick. Use 3-inch round rings to stamp out cookies (I ended up getting 8-9 cookies using this method. You could take the scraps and press them into extra molds). Transfer the dough and rings to prepared baking sheet. Chill in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes until the dough firms up a bit (while the dough chills, you can make the streusel). Top the chilled dough with a couple of teaspoons of jam (strawberry/raspberry with vanilla dough, pineapple/pear with lemon or get creative) and a sprinkling of the streusel. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, or until golden and delicious looking. Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes before removing the rings. Allow to cool completely before serving.
Whoopie pie pan/muffin pan method: Fill each cup of the pan with a piece of dough and flatten with your fingers. The dough will be just slightly lower than the top of the pan. Proceed as above. Allow cookies to cool for 15-20 minutes in pan before using a small offset spatula to carefully ease them out of the pan and onto a cooling rack.
Makes 10-12 really substantial cookies, serving size is definitely 1. If you can hold on to them, they will keep well for 2-3 days.
PS: Thank you for all your comments on my previous post - I've read every single one of them.
