These Strawberry Jam Drops are lemon flavoured butter biscuits filled with strawberry jam. They melt in your mouth with the most divine flavour and texture and can be made two ways. Eat them freshly baked, warm from the oven or add wispy French Meringue on top. Kia tunu pihikete tātou - let's bake some biscuits!
I recently did a campaign for the Barkers team when they launched their new Squeezy Fruit Preserves and these pihikete (biscuits) were one of the recipes I created. I love them plain but in true Naomi style, I wanted to make them a little bit fancy. So I added French Meringue and loved the final result so much. My whānau (family) definitely preferred the decorated one so will one with you choose?
More recipes to take a look at:
Do you want a different pihikete (biscuit) with rahipere (raspberry) and rēmana (lemon)? Amazing, then you must check out these White Chocolate Raspberry Biscuits or try their cheeky cousin, these Lemon Raspberry Cookie Sandwiches.
Credit to Olivia Moore for this beautiful videography and photography for this recipe.
STRAWBERRY JAM DROP INGREDIENT TIPS:
- Butter: I prefer salted pata (butter) because of the deep flavour but unsalted works.
- Eggs: I always use free-range hēki (eggs) but use what you have.
- White sugar: I prefer huka one (caster sugar) here because it is light in texture and flavour which pairs beautifully with the pihikete rēmana (lemon biscuits).
- Flour: Plain or high grade flour both work in this recipe so use what you have.
- Cornflour: Cornflour gives the biscuit dough a lovely melt in the mouth texture so definitely do not skip this ingredient.
- Jam: I use tiamu rōpere (strawberry jam) in this recipe but you can use whatever flavour you like.
EXPERT ADVICE:
Rubbing the kiri rēmana (lemon zest) in to the huka (sugar) is the best way to activate the oils in the lemon zest which makes the flavour more pronounced. Take the time to rub it in until it smells fragrant, you can thank me later.
Whip the pata (butter) and huka (sugars) for the specified time to ensure a nice rise in the cookies and allow the sugar time to dissolve in to the butter.
If the dough is getting sticky when you are making the holes in the cookies, dip the handle in a little bit of flour. You can also chill the dough for 15 minutes if you want to.
Make sure you make the holes big enough in the cookies so you can add a good amount of tiamu (jam). Fill them with the jam to the top as well. Nobody wants a stingy amount of tiamu (jam) in their cookie.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE STRAWBERRY JAM DROPS:
Note: The full recipe card with the full list of ingredients, instructions and step by step video are found at the bottom of this page.
1. Preheat the Oven:
Pre-heat the oven to 170 °C.
Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Make the Lemon Sugar:
Add the huka one (caster sugar) in to a large bowl.
Finely grate the kiri rēmana (lemon zest) in to the bowl.
Rub the kiri (zest) in to the huka (sugar) with your hands until the rēmana (lemon) is fragrant.
2. Whip the Butter and Sugar:
Add the pata kūteretere (softened butter), wanira (vanilla) and tote (salt) in to the sugar mix.
Using a hand mixer, whip on high for 3 minutes until light and fluffy in colour and texture.
3. Add the Egg and Dry Ingredients:
Add the hēki (egg) and whip again for 30 seconds on medium speed.
Add in the puehu parāoa (flour), puehu kānga (cornflour) and pēkana paura (baking powder).
Stir well with a fork or wooden spoon until a simple dough forms.
4. Shape in to Balls:
Mould the mixture in to 20 equal sized balls.
Place them on the prepared tray, with a large gap in between each cookie.
Squash the balls down with the palm of you hand.
Then make a large dent in the centre with your thumb or with a round wooden handle of a lemon juicer or something like that.
Make it large so you can fit heaps of preserve or tiamu (jam) in.
5. Fill it with Jam:
Fill each of the holes with the tiamu (jam), making sure to fill them to the top.
6. Bake the Cookies:
Bake for 12 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes before eating as the jam gets very hot when baking.
Storing the Strawberry Jam Drops:
These pihikete (biscuits) will keep well for 7 days in a sealed container in the fridge or in a cool cupboard.
7. Decorate the Strawberry Jam Drops (Optional)
Make the French Meringue:
Make one batch of my French Meringue recipe.
8. Pipe the Cookies:
Once the merenge (meringue) is ready, add it to a piping bag with a petal piping tip.
Working your way around the cooled pihikete (biscuit) create little petals or whatever shape you want.
Start at the edge of the tiamu (jam) and move to the edge of the pihikete (biscuit). Repeat this pattern with each one.
9. Final Flourish:
You can keep the meringue plain but I prefer to torch it because it is more fun and it helps the meringue hold its shape for a bit longer.
Sprinkle with rōpere tauraki-tio (freeze-dried strawberries) if you want to.
Storing the Decorated Cookies:
The decorated pihikete (biscuits) can be stored in the pouaka makariri (fridge) for up to 24 hours.
The meringue starts to loose its flare after that, so keep these decorating times in mind.
They don't last much longer than that in our whānau!
Take a little walk through some more
Cookie Recipes
A hand-held morsel of goodness that can brighten up any day or cuppa.
DID YOU ENJOY THIS RECIPE?
It would be so awesome if you could please leave a review/comment by clicking the “leave a comment” section at the top of the page.
I love seeing you all make my creations, so send a whakaahua (photo) or kiriata (video) to my Instagram and show me what you made. Let me know if you have any pātai (questions) too, I would love to help.
Lemon and Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies - Pihikete Tapukara Rēmana me te Rōpere
Ingredients
The Lemon Biscuits - Ngā Pihikete Rēmana
- ½ C (120 g) huka one (caster sugar)
- Kiri rēmana (lemon zest of one lemon)
- 125 g pata kūteretere (softened butter)
- ¼ teaspoon tote (salt, fine)
- 2 teaspoon wanira (vanilla)
- 1 hēki (egg, size 6)
- 1 ¼ C (185 g) puehu parāoa noa (plain flour)
- ⅓ C (40 g) puehu kānga (cornflour)
- ¼ teaspoon ¼ teaspoon pēkana paura (baking powder)
- 20 teaspoon (150 g) tiamu rōpere (strawberry jam)
French Meringue Decoration - Kahu Tāhungahunga Wīwī (Optional)
- 1 quantity French Meringue
- A sprinkle of rōpere tauraki-tio (freeze-dried strawberries)
Instructions
Preheat the Oven:
- Pre-heat the oven to 170 °C.
- Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Make the Lemon Sugar:
- Add the huka one (caster sugar) in to a large bowl.
- Finely grate the kiri rēmana (lemon zest) in to the bowl. Rub the kiri (zest) in to the huka (sugar) with your hands until the rēmana (lemon) is fragrant.
Whip the Butter and Sugar:
- Add the pata kūteretere (softened butter), wanira (vanilla) and tote (salt) in to the sugar mix.
- Using a hand mixer, whip on high for 3 minutes until light and fluffy in colour and texture.
Add the Egg and Dry Ingredients:
- Add the hēki (egg) and whip again for 30 seconds on medium speed.
- Add in the puehu parāoa (flour), puehu kānga (cornflour) and pēkana paura (baking powder). Stir well with a fork or wooden spoon until a dough forms.
Shape in to Balls:
- Mould the mixture in to 20 equal sized balls.
- Squash the balls down with the palm of you hand.
- Then make a large dent in the centre with your thumb or with a round wooden handle of a lemon juicer or something like that.Make it large so you can fit heaps of preserve or tiamu (jam) in.
- Fill each of the holes with the tiamu (jam), filling them to the top.
Bake the Cookies:
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- Cool for 5 minutes before eating as the jam gets very hot when baking.
Storing the Undecorated Cookies:
- These pihikete (biscuits) will keep well for 7 days in a sealed container in the fridge or in a cool cupboard.
Decorate the Cookies (Optional)
Make the French Meringue:
- Make one batch of my French Meringue recipe.
Pipe the Cookies:
- Once it is ready, add it to a piping bag with a petal piping tip. Working your way around the cooled pihikete (biscuit) create little petals or whatever shape you want. Start at the edge of the tiamu (jam) and move to the edge of the pihikete (biscuit). Repeat with each cookie.
Final Flourish:
- You can keep the meringue plain but I prefer to torch it because it is more fun and it helps the meringue hold its shape for a bit longer. Sprinkle with rōpere tauraki-tio (freeze-dried strawberries) if you want to.
Storing the Decorated Cookies:
- The decorated pihikete (biscuits) can be stored in the pouaka makariri (fridge) for up to 24 hours. The meringue starts to loose its flare after that, so keep these decorating times in mind. They don't last much longer than that in our whānau!
Leave a Reply