Gluten-free jam drops recipe

We have a little friend who comes to stay after school on Tuesdays. She is gluten-free and I like to bake her a scrummy afternoon tea like these gluten-free jam drops.

Baking gluten-free is new to me, and it’s been a little bit trial-and-error to get the consistency I want using non-wheat flour. I made these gluten-free jam drops using a flour conveniently called ‘gluten-free flour’. It seems to be a mix of mostly coconut and potato flour.

The great thing about a simple recipe like jam drops is that it’s pretty hard to stuff up. So you could try this with a range of different gluten-free flours: coconut, almond, amaranth, buckwheat and rice flour should all work well. I think coconut or almond would give the best flavour.

These gluten-free jam drops are so light on the tongue they practically melt. They won’t freeze well after baking (though you could double the recipe and freeze a batch of dough, ready to roll into balls next time). They are crumbly-light, but travelled reasonably well into school in a Yumbox lunchbox the next day.

Gluten-free jam drops

150g unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 ½ cups gluten-free plain flour (see notes above)
1 ½ tablespoons strawberry jam (raspberry, fig or apricot is also very nice)

Preheat oven to 160ºC fan-forced and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy – about five minutes. Add the flour and beat well with a wooden spoon to combine.

Roll teaspoon-size balls (mine are 12g each but I am oddly pedantic) and line up on baking tray about 3 cm apart. Use the palm of your hand to flatten each ball and smooth any major cracks.

Use the bottom of a wooden spoon handle to make small indentations in each biscuit to pop the jam into.

I use the handle of a small plastic ice-cream spoon to put the jam into each hole. Something small will make things much easier. You can also pipe the jam into the holes if that’s your thing.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until light golden. Watch your oven to see if you need to swap your trays over half-way (for example, my middle rack is cooler than my bottom rack).

Cool biscuits on the trays for about 15 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

Goes wonderfully with a cup of tea or milk.