My Gluten Free Jammy Dodgers
An easy, 4-ingredient recipe for Gluten Free Jammy Dodgers! Melt-on-your-mouth buttery biscuits with an ever so slight crumble & sandwiched together with lashings of your favourite jam. Gluten free (and accidently vegan) but you’d never ever know it.
There are very few gluten containing biscuits that you can’t find a tasty, gluten free alternative for… but I have struggled to find yummy gluten free jammy dodgers!! The ones on the market are not quite buttery enough and (I’m probably being fussy here) but they seem to skimp on the jam. Not one to miss out, I made my own!
This gluten free jammy dodger recipe uses the same shortbread base as my “best ever shortbread” recipe. Its one of the most popular recipes on my blog and I totally get why because its SO easy and the biscuits are perfect every time.
I’ve used it for all sorts, from iced biscuits, twix bars, Starbucks style choc chip shortbread, and tons more (links at the bottom of this page if you’d like them!)
Gluten Free Jammy Dodger Ingredients
4 super duper easy ingredients! Always think its worth reading this bit before you get cracking 🙂
(1) Gluten Free Flour
- Self-raising is my preference but if you’ve only got plain flour in the cupboard, it’ll still work.
- Brand: I like Doves Farm FREEE
(2) Stork Block
- The block of Stork in the picture below is the best if you can get it (you want the one that comes in 250g foil block, NOT a tub, and it says “biscuits and pastry” on the front)
- Stork is naturally dairy free too!!
- If you can’t get Stork:
- You can buy alternative brands but it has to be a vegetable oil based block. Make sure the ingredients states “vegetable oil” (usually 75%). The packet will likely say something like “baking block for biscuits”.
- Don’t substitute with a block of real butter e.g. Lurpak (which is made of milk, not oil) because the results will be very different!!
(3) Caster Sugar
- White granulated sugar would be fine too. Or golden caster sugar (will just result in a slightly browner shortbread)
(4) Strawberry Jam
- Or any flavour you like! You could also make buttercream, use nutella or any kind of spread in between your biccies!
Want Chocolate Biscuits too?
If you want ALL of your jammy dodgers to be chocolate, add 4 tsp of cocoa powder to the flour before even starting the recipe. Its easier to mix the cocoa powder in this way.
If you want HALF of your jammy dodgers to be chocolate like the picture below, follow the steps in the recipe, adding 2 tsp of cocoa powder where it says “Optional: …”. This is a faster method if you want both flavours!
(4) FAQ’s
Q. Can I make this recipe dairy free?
A. It is! This Stork is naturally dairy free. Its actually VEGAN too!
Q. How long will my gluten free jammy dodgers keep for?
A. Usually 3-5 days in a sealed, air-tight container… although they never last that long in my house!!
Q. Why is my shortbread crumbly?
A. It could be down to your brand of flour. My favourite is FREEE Self-Raising which contains Xantham gum which reduces the crumbliness of cakes and biscuits. If your brand hasn’t got any Xantham gum in it, you can buy it in the free from aisle of most supermarkets. Add 1/4 tsp for this recipe.
Q. Why are my gluten free jammy dodgers a bit too brown around the edges?
A. Either they’re slightly overbaked or your oven is too hot.
How to tell: if they’re dry and crumbly throughout, you’ve overbaked them and need to reduce your cooking time by a minute or two. If they’re perfect in the middle and not dry, the oven was too hot so just reduce the temperature by 10oC next time (everyone’s oven is a slightly different temperature so its really easy for this to be the case!)
Q. Do I reaaaaally need to chill the dough in the fridge
A. It develops the flavour and also firms up the dough, making it less sticky and easier to roll out so its certainly a good idea but not compulsory.
Q. I haven’t got baking paper – can I use tin foil
A. Yes! I think baking paper is preferred due to the heat distribution but I’ve never had a problem using either.
My Gluten Free Jammy Dodgers
Ingredients
See blog post above for more info!
- 250 grams Stork block
- 380 grams gluten free self-raising flour - you can swap for gluten free plain flour
- 120 grams caster sugar
- Strawberry Jam - or the filling of your choice
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Cut the Stork into rough squares and place into a mixing bowl. Add the caster sugar to the bowl too.>We cut the Stork into smaller pieces to make it easier to whisk at the next stage
- Cream the butter & sugar until smooth and fluffy.>Ideally, mix with an electric hand whisk for about 30 seconds. Don't cut this time short because (1) it creates a creamy shortbread and (2) it warms up the butter which makes the next stage easier!>You could also use a wooden spoon but you'll have to really go for it!!
- Add the flour and whisk again. It'll start resembling breadcrumbs like the first picture. Keep whisking and it will then form bigger lumps like the second picture. Stop at this point!>Don't worry about sieving the flour – just tip it in 😉>There should be no white flour showing by the time you've finished this stage, it should be all mixed in
- Optional: if you're making chocolate ones too, divide the mixture into half, add the cocoa powder to one half and mix it in.
- Use your hands to press the mix together into a big ball.>If its still quite crumbly, you might find it easier to make several balls.
- Transfer the shortbread dough to a big piece of cling film>Don’t worry if its falling apart a little, it'll firm up in the fridge>I go for a sausage shape as it chills more evenly in the fridge than a big ball
- Wrap it up tightly. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up.
Baking
- Pre-heat your oven to 175oC
- Remove from the fridge, remove the cling film & take a lump of the dough.>It's easiest to do the next bit with about 1/3 of the dough at a time.
- Dust your hands in flour. Play with the lump of dough, moulding into a smooth ball.>You can be quite heavy handed with it here, play with it like its playdough!
- Scatter some flour over the worksurface. Place the ball the surface, use the palm of your hand to flatten slightly and then bash with a rolling pin to flatten a little more>Bashing with the rolling pin helps to stop the shortbread dough from falling apart. This is my fave top tip for this recipe! It makes the dough so much easier to work with.
- Add some flour to your rolling pin and roll out until its about 1cm thick.
- Cut out your shapes!>You can cut your shapes with proper cookie cutters, empty tins of beans or cut shapes out of paper and just draw around them with a knife>Once you've cut your first lot of shapes, gather together the dough, dust everything in flour and roll out again. It doesn't matter how many times you do this – it wont affect the dough
- Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, a few cm apart from each other. Place in the oven for 10-12mins, until the edges are just browning.>They won't spread out a lot in the oven, but you still need a little space around them whilst they're cooking!>Turn the tray around at the 8 min mark. Its likely the front of your oven is a slightly different temperature to the back so this will make sure the shortbreads brown evenly
- Remove from the oven and leave on the tray until cool.>WARNING: if you try to move them before they have cooled, they’ll probably crumble so resist the urge to pick one up whilst its warm!
- Once they're completely cool, sandwich the biscuits together with jam or your chosen spread.
- Eat!!!!!
Want some more shortbread recipes?
Here’s all of my favourites! (all gluten free & dairy free options too):
- Strawberry & White Chocolate Shortbreads
- Raspberry Shortbreads
- Millionaire Shortbread
- Starbucks-Style Choc Chip Shortbreads
