Nici Wickes: Jam and Marmalade Drops

I love these little biscuits; they really brighten up even the most dreary day, and kids love making them so it’s a good school holiday activity. I’ve added sesame seeds to mine for texture and taste and I recommend you do too, or use poppy seeds.  

Makes 15-18  

 

Ingredients 

• 100g butter, soft  
• 2/3 cup (about 100g) icing sugar  
• 1 cup plain flour  
• 1 heaped tbsp cornflour  
• 3 tbsps. sesame or poppy seeds (optional)  
• Jam and/or marmalade  

 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 170 C. Line a tray with baking paper. 
2. Beat butter and icing sugar until pale - I do this for about 5 minutes. Add flours and seeds (if using) and mix well.
3. Roll mixture into balls and place on a tray, making a deep thumb indent into each one. Bake for 15 minutes then remove from oven.
4. Spoon a teaspoon of jam or marmalade into the hollows and return to the oven for 8-10 minutes more.
5. Cool on a wire rack.  

 

Why are these worth making?  

• They’re quick and easy to make and cook.  
• Great way to use up marmalades or jams.  
• The addition of seeds gives them great texture and flavour.  
• Sensible for portion control – no giant cookies here! 

 

LISTEN ABOVE 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be the school holidays are upon us, and if
the last thirty six hours or so has been anything
to go by, you probably need to have some rainy
day options up your sleeve. Good news, Nicky Wicks is
here this morning with a recipe that should sort you
out for a little bit morning.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, we're really going to need a little bit of
indoor activity up with these school holidays, at least the
first week. By the look of it.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
I think so. I think so. It's always good to
have one of these up your sleeve. And this is
like a fantastic, delicious little number for the kids to
get their hands dirty.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Look it really as jam and marmalade drops. I love these.
They're a really old recipe, but they look cute and
the kids love sticking their thumbs in the dough, so
they're really fun to make, and they have this sort
of texture enslaver really of sort of a melting moment
or maybe a shortbread almost. But they're so easy that
anyone can make them. So look, I think they will.

(01:07):
I think they'll brighten up your dreary days. I throw
sesame seeds or poppy seeds into mine, just because I'm
new and different, and I love the texture that it gives.
I love the flavor that it gives. You. Here you go,
this is what we need, and it's just a one
bowl wonder and you've got to love that. In the
school holidays, get your oven on one hundred and seventy
degrees and line a tray with some baking paper. You

(01:28):
want to beat one hundred grams of butter that's been softened,
and that's probably your hardest job at this stage with
the cold weather. Throw it in the microwave for a
bit if you've got one, just to soften it up.
And then you want to mix that with two thirds
of a cup, which is about one hundred grams of
icing sugar. And you want to whip that up really
with a hand beating. You could do it just with
a spoon or wooden spoon. You want to do it

(01:49):
until it's nice and pale, which means that it's you know,
that sugar will have dissolved in there. I do it
for about five minutes actually, and then add some flowers.
And I've got one cup of plain flour and one
heaped tablespoon of corn flour. I would suggest that if
you use three quarters of a cup of gluten free flour,
you'd get away with it as well. Haven't tried it,
but I'm pretty short would work. Mix that really well

(02:12):
together and adding in also three tablespoons of either sesame
or poppy seeds. You want to roll the mixes, and
this is the great but the kids can do all
of this. Roll the mixtures into balls kind of little,
maybe the size of a walnut, place them on a tray,
and then what you do is you press them down
with your thumb so that you make a lovely big
indent into each one. And you can't go deep enough

(02:34):
really with this. Bake for fifteen minutes, and then take
them out of the oven. And that's the other great thing.
Fifteen minutes is not too long for kids to manage.
And then you take them out from the oven, and
then you spoon a little teaspoon of jam or adults
like marmalade into the little hollows that you've made with
your thumb, and throw them back in the oven for
another eight to ten minutes. Call them on a wire, Iraq.

(02:57):
They're absolutely delicious. They'll hard enough if you like as
they call. You don't want to take these off the
tray while they still wall and they'll be too crumbly.
But they're really good. They're a good sort of way
to portion control too. You know you're you're eating of
sweet things cause they're quite little, and you know these
we've all gone for giant cookies these days, giant muffins,

(03:18):
all the that sort of things. So these little jam
and marmalade drops me really cute. I love them. I
love them.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Good, good for portion control unless you eat fourteen.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
You got a camera in my house or something, Jack,
what's the story.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
It's also it's such a good way to it's such
a good way to use up like jam and stuff.
You know, you always end up with like six different
jam containers. You're going to run whatever.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, yeah, use and marmalades because people love giving away marmonade,
but not a lot of people like marmalade. So I
could really recommend the marbolades for these. So it's really lovely.
So it was there real toss up today between school
holiday baking or some soups because the weather really gives
rise to that.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
That's a great option. Yeah, perfect, Hey, thanks you so much.
We will make that recipe for Nicky's jam and marm
lade drops is up on the News Talks. Tell you
what it actually texts all the boxes for the kids day.
So first of all, simple, you've got that kind of
the ingredients that you've probably already got at home, maybe
not one hundred grams of butter. Give them the price the better,
but you know you've probably got most of those things
at home. They can get their thumb in it, and

(04:24):
then it only takes fifteen minutes. That's what I love
about that only takes fifteen minutes in the oven. Because
if you've got needy, anxious kids who want to get
in and enjoy it their baking very quickly, this is
the recipe for them.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks that'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.