Strawberry Jam Drops, a weekend biscuit treat

Jam Drops may be retro, but they are still a popular biscuit to enjoy for morning or afternoon tea. This is a family recipe from my Mum's collection and probably dates back to the 1950's. When haven't Jam Drops been part of every home cook's repertoire? I have tweaked it slightly, adding vanilla essence, but I love the nutty flavour and aroma that rolling these uncooked biscuits in dessicated coconut brings to the plate when they are baked. It  is the browned coconut sprinkles that set this recipe apart. The whole family will love them.

Happy New Year to my readers of this recipe. I hope 2018 is healthy and fulfilling and everything you wish it t be.

 Jam Drops are a great way of using up extra jam, which sits patiently bottled in the refrigerator waiting to be noticed. We returned from Cairns this week, to shockingly hot weather, exacerbated by a very hot Northerly wind blowing which we aren't used to at all. However, I needed a sweet treat with a cuppa and rather than make a whole cake, I thought of biscuits which are quick to make and bake, and also to eat, although I can stop at one. These biscuits are nicely crisped on the outside, and chewy in the middle. I used my homemade strawberry jam in these which is quite thick, however any jam will do. To bring them up to children's party status in the past, I have also added hundreds and thousands or some other colorful decoration to the top of the jam filling, nice for a change. I'm sorry  I didn't think to do that this time for an interesting  photo.

The trickiest part with making these biscuits is rolling them into the right sized shape in the coconut. The mixture spreads during cooking, as you can see in my first cooked tray below, so they do need to be spaced out well. The ideal Jam Drop is round, with the shape not affected by it's closest neighbour. However it depends on how you are feeling as to how particular you want to be, and the shape doesn't affect the deliciousness of them at all. The second tray of 5 biscuits, is more like how they should look in an ideal world. There were 6 on that tray before Mr. HRK sampled them.

This is a recipe and a biscuit to be enjoyed whilst relaxing with your feet up.

 
Ingredients:

Makes about 25

1//2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups sifted SR flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup desiccated coconut
115g (1/3 cup)strawberry or raspberry jam

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C.

Beat butter and sugar to a cream.
Add well beaten eggs one at a time. Then add vanilla essence.
Lastly add sifted flour.
Take teaspoonfuls of mixture and roll in coconut.

Place each uncooked Jam Drop on a greased tray about 5cm apart, or on a tray lined with non-stick baking paper.

Use your lightly floured finger to make an indentation in each ball. Add 1/2 teaspoon jam into the centre of each biscuit with a small spoon.



Place tray in oven.

You may need to turn tray around halfway through cooking for even browning.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, until biscuits are cooked through and light golden.

Store biscuits in  single layers between sheets of non-stick baking paper, in an airtight container in a cool place if possible for up to 2 days. They won't last much longer.



6 cooked on a second tray and one missing already whilst still hot.




Below is the riginal handwritten recipe from my Mum's recipe book. This is the full extent of the recipe. What occurred to me when I was looking through her old recipes was how simple and briefly worded they were. Most of them were hand written and handed on through the family or friends.  The specific instructions on how to cook the recipe was communicated verbally and still is to a certain extent, and there was also an understanding that who you gave your prized recipe to could cook. Recipes in books and on line now often include so much detail, aimed at the beginner cook to those more experienced. Ingredients are also more complex requiring explanation. What are your thoughts on this? Is there sometimes too much wording and detail in the recipes of today? Or do you find all of that extra detail interesting as I do.



This was the complete recipe in my Mum's recipe book. Just four ingredients and a brief method. How times have changed.

Keep cool or warm depending on which Hemisphere you are living in.

Thanks for dropping by.

Best wishes,

Pauline