Jam Drops

Kookaburra's Note:

These biscuits (cookies) are easy to make, taste delicious and keep well. They also look lovely with their centres of sparkling red jam. They're perfect for afternoon tea, after-school or picnics. Yes, they're a bit fiddly to make but believe me, they're worth the effort!

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 40 biscuit ...

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 cup white sugar (caster sugar if available)
• 200 g butter , melted
• ¼ cup milk
• ¾ cup plum jam (US jelly) or ¾ cup any other dark coloured jam

Directions:

1. Grease 3 oven or cookie trays.
2. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
3. Combine sifted flour, coconut and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
4. Mix well.
5. Make a well in the flour mixture and stir in melted butter and milk.
6. Mix well.
7. (Don't worry if the batter looks a bit crumbly.) Using your hands, shape, rather than roll, level tablespoons of the mixture into balls.
8. (Don't worry if the balls aren't perfectly round).
9. If the mixture seems too crumbly at this stage, add a tablespoon or two of milk to the batter, but be careful not to make it too wet- it should still look crumbly and the dough should just come together with the heat of your hands.
10. Place balls about 7cm (3") apart on oven trays.
11. (They will flatten out as they cook.) Now, holding the balls together with the fingers of one hand, gently push the handle of a wooden spoon into the centre of each biscuit to make an indentation about 5mm (1/4") deep.
12. (If the biscuits split a little just gently push the dough back together.) Using a finger to ease the jam off the spoon, drop about 1/4 teaspoon of jam into the hollow of each biscuit.
13. (Be neat and don't overfill- you can add more jam later.) Bake on the centre shelf/shelves of a moderate 180C/350F oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
14. Cook in batches if necessary.
15. Remove plum drops from oven and leave on trays while you add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each hollow.
16. When plum drops are firm to touch, remove gently to cool on wire racks.
17. Store in an airtight container between layers of baking (silicone) paper.
18. They will keep well for up to a week- if they last that long!

Reviews

[WaterMelon]

Wonderful cookies! I love the taste of coconut in them. As I'm a coconut-freak, I toasted the coconut before mixing in (150°C, 7mins watch closely, they burn FAST!) so the taste would be more pronounced. I used strawberry jam and I brushed them with glaze (egg yolk + 1 tsp water) before baking for the golden look. Thanks for the yummy recipe. I baked them for 23mins because I like crispy, crunchy cookies.

[Aaliyah's&Aaron's mum]

Gorgeous biscuits! Love coconut so we really enjoyed these. I did have a slight problem with the dough being a bit wet, had to add in some extra flour, that took care of it. So, next time I shall start off with 170g of butter and add more if needed. I used strawberry jam since that was what I had on hand. Thank you, kookaburra, for sharing this wonderful recipe, definitely a keeper.

[Tina and Dave]

Superb biscuits! Picked raspberries, made jam, then made these - all in an afternoon!! Will definately be making these often, they're easy and delicious! Thanks for a great recipe!