JAM JAMS for Fall...

         "In the Fall, every recipe is a love letter to the season..." 

                                                                                                                         -Unknown

Fall arrives this Monday, Sept 22....Jam Jams are quietly begging me to bake them,  so they can be devoured, one by one, in the early morning with steaming coffee, or in the afternoon...if they last that long. My mother used to make these before dawn. By first light, jam was already dripping over their lightly browned crusts, coffee, boiled, on the stove. And that glassy sun of Fall streamed in through the windows.

 I made these with oat creamer ( I still had some left over from the scones!) and plant butter halved with real butter. Serve hot with tea. Or any time. You can halve the recipe, if you wish.

DRY INGREDIENTS: 4 cups flour, 2 1/2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp baking powder, Pinch salt, 1 cup plant butter or margarine or butter...      

In large bowl combine dry ingredients. Cut in margarine or butter, or plant butter...whatever you decide to use. 

 WET INGREDIENTS: Combine 2 eggs, beaten into 1 cup oat creamer (and a tad extra) or milk, if you prefer. 

                                        

Make a well in the center. Pour wet ingredients into the well and combine quickly.

                                           

Mix all together into bowl and stir lightly to form a soft dough.

It should not be overmixed or the Jam Jams will be stiff. The less you mix the better the biscuits will become.

"Baking can be done with a few simple ingredients, so it's about simplicity and nostalgia. People are reminded of their childhood..."

                   - Paul Hollywood

Pat or roll out to ¾ inches. Cut with cookie cutter. I used a small teacup. But then I rolled them into balls. 

Place on silpat liners or greased cookie sheet. 

Make ridges with thumbprint centers as if  you were doing thumbprint cookies.

Place a dollop...a very teensy weensy dollop...of jam in the middle.

Bake at 450 for about 10 minutes. I start at 7 minute and add time as need be. 

Watch carefully, as they tend to burn if oven gets too hot. Least amount of time is best. (They should be brown and the jam bubbling.) Serve hot or reheat to serve later on.

"And all at once, summer collapsed into Fall..." - Oscar Wilde

Photographs 2025

A Jam Jam Morning...

       Brrrrrr. -7 Celsius ( 9 F for those south of the border). It's cold.The Christmas decorating is done ( but of course it is!). Now we have that frost.  Not that mile high snow sort of cold from the prairies or back east. This is that grating damp, chilled into your bones sort of cold that is so west coast. We do live in a rainforest and everything drips, even when it is isn't raining.
                                 
 The neighbourhood cats are frozen to the ground.Smokey and Spencer come for their morning treat. To say hello. To nuzzle and purr. They  come to chase birds, sit on the fence and make sure their presence is known. Even on a morning like this..

 Time to make Jam Jams. Spencer has decided to help.  He likes to stretch on the  new screen. Again.He squashes his face into the window. Quality Control Expert.

JAM JAMS ( I always double recipe)

( Will disappear in a flash…..zoom)

 2     cups flour

2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch salt
½ cup margarine
1 egg, beaten
½ cup ( and a tad more) milk
Topping: Raspberry jam ( or whatever kind you like best)

 

 

In large bowl combine dry ingredients. Cut in margarine. Make a well in the centre. Beat together wet ingredients. Then plop all together into bowl and stir lightly to form a soft dough. It should not be overmixed or the Jam Jams will be stiff.The less you mix the light the biscuits will become.

 Pat or roll out to ¾ inches. Cut with cookie cutter. Place on silpat liners or greased cookie sheet. Stick thumb in centre of each. Place a dollop of jam in the hole. ( Not freezer jan. Too sloppy)

 

Bake at 450 for about 10 minutes. Watch carefully, as they tend to burn if left too long. Least amount of time is best. Should just be brown and the biscuit starting to separate into layers.

Serve HOT! Oh yum yum those Jam Jams!

 Perfect on a cold day. On a day that you just finished decorating the house for Christmas ( but of course you  have! Hasn't everyone?!)

  And the mornings are cold and frosty. The afternoons warm and the sunsets  pink like peppermints.