jam balls

I had a lot of fun baking these jam balls. When I bit into one of them, I could taste enough jam to complement the pastry without the jam overpowering the taste of the pastry.

In order to ensure that the jam balls melt in your mouth, you would need to use icing sugar instead of castor sugar.

I added some custard powder as well and as such, the pastry had a hint of yellow colour.

I used homemade mango jam in this case but you can use any store-bought jam if you prefer. The taste of the jam balls is affected by the type of jam that you use and as such, if you have more than one type of jam at home, you can have fun making different varieties of jam balls.

INGREDIENTS

360g plain flour
2 1/2 tbsp custard powder
250g butter (softened)
35g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
jam

METHOD

1. Sift the plain flour and custard powder in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Cream the butter, icing sugar and egg yolk in a bowl using an electric mixer until well mixed.

3. Fold in the flour mixture and mix to form a dough.

4. Place the dough in the refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes.

5. Scoop out dough of desired amount (I used a half-moon shaped measuring spoon that was 1 tsp in quantity) and spread out slightly on the palm of your hand. Using your fingers, depress the centre of the dough and place a little jam in the centre. Roll up the dough into the shape of a ball. As you do so, you will realise that some of the jam gets blended into the dough.

6. Place the balls on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

7. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees celsius for 15 to 18 minutes or until the jam balls are golden brown.


TIP

When you make these jam balls, be prepared to get your hands sticky. As you are rolling the dough (with jam) into a ball, some of the jam may ooze out and get blended into the dough (thereby causing your hands to become sticky). This results in the dough having jam flavour in them. What I do is to have a paper napkin nearby so that I can wipe my hands when they become sticky.