Jam Drops

 

 

I love searching for community cookbooks in secondhand shops and school Fairs. Leafing through these tried and true recipes from other cooks  always reminds me that recipes are for sharing.
 

Here is a one for jam tarts which were fun to make with my granddaughters.A sticky not too runny jam is good for this recipe. We used Anathoth raspberry Jam which is a bright red colour and has a lovely fruity flavour. It's become a bit of a New Zealand icon as it was the first of the Anathoth jams. It was produced in 1987 and grown from raspberries on the Anathoth farm.
 

The secret to making successful jam tarts, as we learnt, was to make the holes big enough so the jam did not overflow, and to leave a little space for spreading. Every oven is different. I found that only 9 minutes at 200 degrees C was just right in mine.  My advice would be that the first time you make them you bake just a few tarts first to check if your temperature is right and how long they take to brown lightly.

We watched them carefully towards the end . They can burn easily.

In hot or humid weather biscuit dough this mixture could be sticky, In this case put it in the fridge for a little while to warm up and/or flour your hands lightly before rolling it into balls.

 

Jam Drops

 

inspired by a recipe in the Bayswater School 1998 recipe book)

 

Ingredients

 

125 gm butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup of castor sugar
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 1/3 cup self-raising flour
raspberry jam

Method

• Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.

• Beat in the egg, and the vanilla essence.

• Stir in flour.

• Shape teaspoonfuls into balls and place on a greased baking tray, leaving room for spreading.

• Gently indent top with handle of wooden spoon or make a thumb print

• Spoon ¼ tsp of jam into hole.

• Bake at 200 C for approximately 10-12 minutes.

• Cool on tray. ( This is important as the hot jam can burn your mouth)_

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