Jam drop biscuits

These soft, tender cookies have a moist jam centre. We use a strawberry jam with a thick, firm consistency as runnier types tend to bleed into the biscuit.

Makes about 25 cookies.

130g butter (softened) or margarine
112g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla essence)
1 large egg (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
24g (2 tablespoons) cornflour
36g (3 tablespoons) self-raising flour (or 3 tablespoons of plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder)
150g (1 cup) plain flour
About 105g (1/3 cup) jam

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (150 degrees fan-forced).

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer or electric hand-beaters, beat butter or margarine, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add egg and beat until combined.

Sift in combined flours. Using a spoon, stir until all ingredients are combined. The dough will be very soft at this stage. Refrigerate dough for 20-30 minutes.

Roll heaped teaspoons of mixture into balls and place on lined baking trays. Make a deep indentation in the centre of each ball. We use the end of a spatula handle and dip it in flour before making each indentation.

Fill each indentation with 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Don't overfill the cavities or the jam will overflow during baking.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until biscuits are pale golden. About halfway through the cooking time, swap the trays around so the biscuits bake evenly (this is not necessary if you are using a fan-forced oven). Allow to cool on trays or a wire rack (beware of eating straight from the oven as the jam is extremely hot). Store cooled biscuits in an airtight container.

credits to exclusivelyfood