Jam Drops

I like a good bikkie on occasion, especially with a cup of tea. A bikkie with a good dollop of sweet jam in the middle rates right up there.

I made these jam drops to take to a BBQ we were invited to. It was something a bit different than turning up with a cake or a bottle of wine. And the day of the BBQ was extremely hot, so bikkies went down a treat.

Luckily for me, I was given six jars of homemade jam recently. So I was able to use this jam in the middle of my jam drops - thanks Melanie for the jam. I put it to good use.

What you'll need

Makes approximately 16 biscuits

125g softened butter

100g caster sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

200g self-raising flour

1/2 cup jam of your choice, I used strawberry and raspberry

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line two large baking trays with baking paper. 

Cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Pour in the vanilla and the egg and mix well until combined. 

Sift the flour over the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Bring the mixture together with your hands if need be.

Using clean hands, roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture into tight balls. Place on the prepared baking tray  approximately 5cm apart. This is important as the balls will 'melt' and spread in the oven. They need space to do this.

Once all the mixture has been rolled into balls, use your little finger to make a small, but deep hole in the middle of each ball. Don't squish the balls too much, as it will result in too flat a biscuit. 

Using a small spoon, fill the holes with jam. Don't put too much jam into the hole, as it will overflow.

Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes, but watch the biscuits closely as they will brown very quickly. You may want to swap the trays half-way through the cooking so that all the biscuits cook evenly. They are cooked when they are a light golden brown color. Remove from the oven and turn the oven off.

The biscuits will have flattened out considerably. While the biscuits are still hot, spoon a little extra jam onto each. Place the biscuits back into the oven, but with the door ajar, for about 10 minutes. The residual heat from the oven will 'set' the jam, so that it hardens. This helps when storing the biscuits, so they don't stick together. Once the jam is set, remove the biscuits from the oven and cool completely. 

Store in an airtight container for up to a week (if they last that long).