There is nothing better than home made biscuits and this recipe is a beauty.

The recipe comes from Merle Parrish’s book, Merle’s Kitchen.  I must say I was pleasantly surprised as to how good they are.  I was attracted to the recipe because I had just made some passionfruit jam and thought, “because it is quite tangy, it would work well on buttery biscuit”.  How right I was.  It is perfect.  I have made this recipe twice in the last week and, each time, I doubled the recipe!

In the preamble to this recipe, Merle advises that jam drops are always popular with kids because they love to lick the jam from the middle before eating the biscuits.  I can vouch they are also popular with big kids, too … although I haven’t seen any licking the jam.

Ingredients:

• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 1¾ cups plain flour
• ¼ cup cornflour (corn starch)
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• jam (The recipe specified raspberry but any jam will do.  As mentioned above, I used my passionfruit jam.)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the salt and vanilla and then the egg, beating until well combined.
4. Sift together the flour, cornflour and baking powder.
5. Gently mix in the sifted flours.
6. Roll dough into walnut size balls and place on the trays (allow a bit of space as they spread a bit).
7. Press a finger into the centre of each ball.
8. Fill the finger hole with jam.
9. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden, about 12-15 minutes.