Sugar Free Jam Sandwich Cookies

These sugar free jam sandwich cookies are light, buttery and sweet. My ode to the Jammie Dodger, you won’t believe these have no added sugar.

We love our biscuits in England (please note Americans: I am not talking about the scone-like savoury things here, I mean cookies!), and there are a small selection that appear at every after church tea & biscuits time, every toddler group, and basically every other tea-and-biscuit-based social gathering in the UK. You know the ones I’m talking about.

Sadly, these biscuits are often crammed full of sugar, each small cookie containing at least 2 teaspoons of the stuff (and that’s a conservative estimate!). Might not sound like much, but most people don’t stop at just one, and since the World Health Organisation recommends we aim for just 6 teaspoons a day for adults (and only 3 teaspoons for over 4s), you can see how it quickly adds up!

So I’ve set myself the challenge of making sugar free/low sugar versions of our favourites British biscuits.

And I’ve started with Jammie Dodgers. Why? Well, to be honest, mostly because after many many attempts and more chia seeds than I care to count, I have finally found a sugar free jam that we all enjoy in our house, and I wanted to share it with you. I have tried many (mostly chia-based) sugar free jam recipes, and found them to be tasteless or bitter or weird textures.

I finally came across a new idea when I was reading through the sugar free Jammie Dodger recipe this one is based on, and with a little tweaking, I found it to be perfect. Sadly the biscuit recipe, while quite nice to taste, I found practically impossible to work with as a dough, but I tweaked that one too until, after several vaguely successful tests, I finally nailed it!

I think what I love about this jam is that you can really taste the raspberries. I don’t think I’d ever truly realised how much conventional jams taste of sugar more than the fruit they are made from until I tasted this one! However, if you like your jam a little more sweet and a little less raspberry-ish, feel free to add an extra tablespoon of xylitol – it won’t change the consistency. Play with the sweetness until it is right for you – but this is perfect for our family!

And as you enjoy munching on a guilt-free home-baked biscuit and feeling mildly superior, feel free to get very excited about next week’s offering, the one I am most happy with: the chocolate Bourbon. 🙂

Little hands can:

• Mash the raspberries and mix the cornflour and water for the jam
• Push buttons on the food processor and pour in measured ingredients for the biscuit dough (older kids can measure them out and do most of the biscuit dough themselves)
• Older kids can roll out the dough
• Cut shapes from the rolled-out dough with cookie cutters
• Spread biscuits bases with jam and top with another cookie

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Sugar Free Jam Sandwich Cookies

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Chilling time:

1 hr 15 mins

Total Time

1 hr 40 mins

 

A sugar free version of a classic Jammie Dodger, these cookies are sweet, buttery and crumbly.

Servings: 15 -20, depending on the size of your cutter

Ingredients

• 2 cups (300g) plain flour (light spelt or light rye works here, too)
• 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1/2 cup (100g) xylitol (you could use 1/4 cup (50g) Natvia here if you are not a xylitol fan, or use 1/4 cup (50g) of a white sugar-stevia blend to make them low in sugar if you prefer)
• 2 tbsp rice syrup, optional*
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 4 heaped tbsp (90g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp sugar free vanilla extract

For the jam:

• 1 and 1/2 cups (150g) frozen raspberries (or strawberries)
• 2-4 tbsp xylitol, to taste (or use a few drops liquid stevia or 1-2 tbsp of a sugar-stevia blend to be low sugar, not sugar free)
• 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1-2 tbsp water

Instructions

1. First, make the jam: Place the raspberries and xylitol in a pan and mash slightly with a fork, then place over medium heat. Mix the cornflour (cornstarch) and water to a paste in a separate bowl, mash the raspberries slightly, then pour the cornflour paste into the pan and whisk into the raspberries.

2. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 2-5 mins, checking regularly and mixing to ensure the jam doesn't catch. Once the jam starts to turn a deeper colour and becomes a smooth consistency without lumps, remove from the heat and pour into a ramekin. Allow to cool, then place in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight.

3. To make the biscuits: Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or food processor until it forms a dough (this should just be coming together, and smooth enough to work with but not sticky). If the dough looks too dry, add a splash of milk until it *just* comes together (if it's looking sticky, add in a little extra flour but try to work the dough as little as possible).

4. If the dough feels a little warm or sticky, wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 15 mins (this is optional, but helpful!).

5. Roll out the dough and cut circular shapes with a cookie cutter, then cut smaller circles in the centre of half of the biscuits (I didn't have a cutter small enough for this so I used a circular icing nozzle which worked perfectly - another option is to get a skewer and wiggle it around in the centre to create a small circle).

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins, or until firm and ever so slightly golden (please remember that biscuits made without sugar will not go as golden as those made with sugar or a sugar-stevia blend).

7. Allow the biscuits to cool completely, then spread each base with jam and top with one of the "donut-like" biscuits with holes in.

Recipe Notes

*adding rice syrup does add a little free sugar to the biscuits (about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon per biscuit), but is not necessary so feel free to leave it out. I include it for those who want a slightly more golden, crunchier biscuit.

If using a sugar-stevia blend rather than sugar free sweetener like xylitol or Natvia, your cookies will still be low in sugar, containing around 1/2 teaspoon free sugar per biscuit as opposed to the traditional version which contains 1-2 tsp per cookie.

Want to try some other low sugar cookie recipes? Why not try your hand at my Jaffa cakes, chocolate bourbons, viennese whirls or gingerbread men? Looking for one that’s lower in sweetener? We love our apple & cinnamon cookies.