I’m from King’s Lynn in Norfolk. I moved to Ireland when I was pretty young, but I have memories of driving up the east coast of England past the lavender fields with my nan and grandad to go strawberry picking. You paid for a punnet and you got to choose the juiciest strawberries you could find. This, coupled with my love for the produce in Ireland – like the amazing strawberries we have here in the summer – is why I love this recipe. – Alice Jary
250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
30g cornflour
60g icing sugar
220g salted butter, diced and chilled
2 egg yolks, beaten
caster sugar, for sprinkling
your favourite jam (I use strawberry jam from McCambridge’s in Galway)
Mix the flours and icing sugar in a large bowl, then rub in the butter until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre, then pour in the egg yolks.
Using your hands, mix from the inside out, gathering the flour as you go. Stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together into a ball to make sure your biscuits are nice and crumbly once baked. Form the dough into a disc, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s 5mm thick. Using a round cookie cutter, stamp out the cookies and place on the lined trays. Gather the remaining dough into a ball, roll it out again and repeat.
Using a small heart-shaped cutter, stamp hearts out of the centres of half of the circles. Sprinkle caster sugar over the unbaked cookies and return to the fridge for 30 minutes more.
Preheat the oven to 175°C fan.
Bake the cookies in the oven for 12–15 minutes, until light golden. Remove from the oven and leave on the trays to set and cool completely.
Once cooled, spread a generous amount of jam on the plain, unstamped cookies, then sandwich them together with the biscuits with the hearts and gently press them together.
From Blasta Books #3: The United Nations of Cookies by Jess Murphy and Eoin Cluskey