This week, with the fete season well under way, and cake stalls abounding, Roy decided it was a perfect time to make some old fashioned biscuits. He loves the recipes for biscuits in his old cookbooks, not least because they tend to make loads of biscuits, so are perfect for a cake stall. The recipes are also very simple - people in those days didn't have time for fiddling around with recipes! I told him the children like sweet biscuits, but that their parents prefer not too much sugar, so he went through his books looking for the perfect recipe. Then, he found it in the Electrical Association For Women's Cookery Book, circa 1930 - Jam Rings. So this week, Roy Creates Jam Rings.
- small 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons of butter (about 60 grams using an old tablespoon)
- 1 and 1/2 cups plain flour, plus flour for dusting
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Vanilla essence to taste (we used about 1/2 teaspoon)
- A little milk (you will be using this to bind the biscuit dough, so it will depend on your dough as to how much you need)
- Jam of your choice. The children Roy knows tend to like Raspberry Jam, and to be ultra healthy, Roy decided to use one with no added sugar.
Note: you can make other flavour combinations by using different jams and essences. For example, apricot jam and almond essence would be very nice! If you have any suggestions for combinations, please share them with us!
Method:
- Lots of the mixing in this recipe is done with your hands, so make sure they are really clean!
- Sift together the flour, sugar, cream of tartar and baking soda.
- Rub the butter into the sifted dry ingredients, until the mixture looks a bit like fine bread crumbs.
- Beat your egg and vanilla essence with a fork in a separate bowl until they have 'combined'
- Add the egg and vanilla to the dough and mix it in thoroughly. This is best done with your hands.
- Add milk, a little at a time, until your mix comes together in a ball of dough. We needed about a tablespoon of milk, but it will depend on your flour and even on the weather! The dough should be a good consistency to roll out.
- Cover your bench with a piece of cling wrap, about 40 centimetres long.
- Roll the dough out on top of the cling wrap. You want to have a rectangle shape, about 1/4 centimetre thick. To make the dough a regular shape, cut off uneven parts and press them in to holes or to make up corners, as Roy is doing below.
- Spread the dough thinly with the jam, making sure to cover the whole surface.
- Roll the dough tightly into a sausage. You might want to cut the dough into two pieces to make rolling easier. You can use the cling wrap to help you roll, but make sure not to roll the cling wrap into the sausage - Roy doesn't think it would taste too good!
- Wrap the sausage in cling wrap and put it into the refridgerator to harden up. You want it to be really firm so that it cuts easily.
- When the dough is nicely chilled, but still in the refridgerator, preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Remove your dough from the refridgerator and take it out of the cling wrap.
- Using a sharp knife (you might need an adults help here), cut circles of the dough off your sausage. You want them to be about 1 centimetre thick.
- Put the biscuits you have cut onto your prepared tray and bake until golden brown. This will take about 15 minutes depending on the size.
- Transfer your biscuits to a wire cooling rack and let them cool completely.
- Store them in an air tight container and enjoy!