Gluten-Free Jam Drops

Jam drops are OG biscuit royalty. They’re simple to make, cute-as-a-button, and nostalgic. You’ll find oodles of recipes online, as well as your old fashioned, most splattered, baking book.

What are Jam Drop Biscuits?

Jam drops are comprised of a buttery, crumbly, vanilla plain biscuit; dotted with a dollop of jam in the middle.

As they bake, the jam spreads a little and goes very sticky, gleaming pretty like a gemstone. So good!

This version is a slight a spin on the classic. As there are already zillions of recipes for classic jam drops, I thought I’d have a go at working one that might fit the brief for my friends who have multiple food allergies or intolerances.

The recipe ended up gluten and egg-free, and adaptable to being dairy-free (and therefore vegan, too). Not bad!

Quick Lowdown on Gluten-Free Flours

A gluten-free flour is one free from gluten (a protein found in certain grains; including wheat, rye, spelt, and barley).

The spectrum of flours can range from ground raw grains to roots to beans to nuts to seeds; with the base ingredients determining functionality (and taste) in baking. Some simply work better than others!

Gluten-free flour blends are special mixes of flours designed to bake just like regular white flour, but are free from wheat and gluten (and often dairy and yeast). Ingredient panels will often show a mix of ground ingredients; commonly maize, tapioca and rice (out my side of the world, at least). While consistency varies product blend-to-blend, they’re typically trusted to ‘do the job’ like regular flour would!

Don’t Forget Nut Flours!

Instead of regular white flour, these jam drops have a base of part plain gluten-free flour, part almond meal (aka ground almonds).

Together, they work well consistency-wise – due to its fibre content, almond meal helps retain moisture. But it also lends well nutritionally, adding nutrient diversity, by increasing the protein and fat content of the biscuit.

Gluten-Free Jam Drops

Author Danijela Armitage

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 14 minutes mins

Serving Size: 16 biscuits

Rating:

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Ingredients:  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup plain all-purpose gluten-free flour
• A pinch of salt
• 4 Tbsp melted butter or coconut oil
• 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 ½ Tbsp water
• 16x ¼ tsp jam, an assortment of flavours

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
• Add to a large mixing bowl the almond meal, gluten-free flour and salt. Mix together.
• Add in the melted butter or coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla essnce. Mix into a dough – it will be crumbly.
• Add the water, and mix into a smooth dough – ditch the spoon and use your fingers to gently incoporate!
• Roll dough into a ball. Using a knife, halve the ball. Halve each piece again, then again, and again, until you have 16 even dough pieces.
• Roll each piece of dough in your hand into a ball. Flatten it, then gently insert your thumb into the middle, pressing down (but not so deep you puncture the bottom! The sides of the dough will crack, but as it does keep your thumb in the middle and index/middle/ring finger on the outer edge, and move your fingers around to shape the dough. A little bit of cracking is fine – but if cracks the whole way through keep in mind some jam will leak! As you go place each biscuits on the tray. Diameter wise these will be small – around 4cm at their widest.
• Once your biscuits are shaped, load each biscuit with around ¼ tsp jam. You can do one flavour, or mix it up! Aim to not over full, as the jam will spread as it cooks.
• Bake in the oven for 14 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Notes:

Dairy-free or vegan? Sub in coconut oil for butter