Trying out the jam

You'll remember that last week I made some raspberry jam, because there are recipes that require it as an ingredient. You may also remember that I did this in defiance of 'requests' for baking from my colleagues. Due to my pliant and easily persuadable nature, however (in case you missed it, that was your cue to snort in disbelief) I decided that it wouldn't hurt to make a little something to feed the ravenous workmates, which would also give me the opportunity to try out my jam in one of those jam-related recipes.

I had of course already tasted the jam. I was quite pleased with the consistency - it was spreadable but not too runny. And it wasn't as sweet as I was worried it would be either. So all in all, not a bad effort, considering I'm not much of a jam-maker.


I chose to make raspberry delights (p52), a recipe that looked fairly quick and easy, and didn't require any extra ingredients. It turned out to be pretty much as straightforward as it looked - just cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then sift in dry ingredients. This made quite a wet mixture, as there was a surprisingly small amount of dry ingredients - just 1/4 cup each of flour and custard powder.

This mixture was to be spooned into greased patty tins. I used my usual canola spray to grease the tins - having finally learnt that it's not a good idea to spray tins in the direction of the stovetop (overspray on the elements. I always do this) I turned away from the oven to spray the patty tins. A few moments later I stepped back towards the bench and almost fell over: this time the overspray had settled on the kitchen floor. Even after I'd wiped it up, I still had a nice greasy coating all over the bottom of my sneaker.

Still, I managed to keep my feet long enough to fill the patty tins and get them in the oven. These went into the oven for 10 minutes, after which I took them out again, added a blob of jam to the top of each, and put them back in for another few minutes.

This method struck me as particularly clever. At one time I used to make sugar buns a lot (sugar buns is one recipe that isn't in the Edmonds book, but should be) but I always put the jam on the top before putting them in the oven, and the buns would collapse a bit under the weight of the jam. Adding the jam partway through the baking would solve that problem. Now I just have to work out how to stop them coming out really flat...

Anyway, back to my raspberry delights: they looked a bit strange when I took them out of the oven; they hadn't risen as much as I would expect from a mixture that had two eggs plus baking powder, and the texture just didn't look right to me. My main worry was how I would get them out of the patty tins: despite my diligent spraying of the tins, they looked pretty well stuck on.

I got them out without too much trouble in the end, though they looked a bit raggedy around the edges. I tasted one (quality control) and set the others aside to take to work. It was pretty good - kind of custardy in flavour, which isn't surprising, and slightly moist in the centre.

Trying a second raspberry delight at morning tea today, I felt that they'd dried out very slightly overnight, but they were still pretty good, and thankfully the workmates aren't too fussy. They all got eaten anyway, which is a reasonable indication that they tasted alright!