Be sweet

With a friend coming over for afternoon tea today, I decided to make some shortbread using my friend Julie's grandmother's recipe (which my mum got off Julie and wrote down for me. Confused? Me too).

I made pretty star shapes, and they were great, but towards the end of the rolling and cookie cutting, I got bored and suddenly had an idea. When mum had sampled Julie's shortbread just before Christmas, she realised they were the same shortbread her mum (my Oma) used, only with jam cooked into the top. Every couple of years when we were kids, Oma would travel up to Townsville on the train to visit, and would bring with her a couple of tins of jam biscuits. They were so delicious. I still remember them.

So with the rest of the dough I made jam biscuits. They disappeared really quickly today (when Mr QM found them) so I made some more.



Jam shortbread

250 g butter
120 g caster sugar
340 g plain flour, sifted
Jam (I used four berries and homemade apricot jams)

Cream the butter and sugar then fold in the flour. Leaving the crumbly dough in the bowl, shape the dough with your hands until it sticks together. Scoop out tablespoons of dough, form into a ball shape and place on the baking tray. Press down gently to flatten the top, and press your thumb into the top of the biscuit to make a well.

When all the biscuits are on the baking trays, place a small dollop of jam in the well of each biscuit. Don't put too much in or you'll have a volcanic eruption! But it is nice to have a little jam flowing over as it cooks.

Cook for 25 minutes in 150 degree (C) oven or until they have a nice pale colour about them. Check the biscuits every 10 minutes to check that they aren't getting too dark.

Carefully transfer biscuits to a cooling rack, and cool completely before eating. Trust me on this - you don't want a boiling jam biscuit anywhere near your mouth (or your fingers!)


Oma used to make hers a lot flatter, but I have a problem with space in my oven so decided to go for the chunky biscuit so I could get more on a tray.

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Yes, this does appear to have become a food blog. Maybe I should change the name of it to "Cookingmick". Or not. I think this will be my last post for a while - I need a break while I get back into the routine of working and playing. Also I seem to have developed an addiction to swimming laps at the local pool. The other day I was there at 6.10 am, which is the time all the other swimming addicts turn up, and I have to say, it wasn't pretty. The fast lane swimmers were all in the medium lane, and the swimming club people were all gossiping in the fast lanes. The medium lane was so fast I couldn't keep up and ended up in the leisurely lane. Those 6 am people are WEIRD. With a capital W.



Hi, my name is Michelle and it's been 9 hours since my last swim.


(Cartoon by Judy Horacek - she's obviously swum at the Dickson Pool)