How to Prepare Wholesome Snacks with Natural Jams

Everyone Loves Jam!

A sense of nostalgia comes with jams; they haven’t changed much since humans first started bottling and preserving food. The taste and aroma take you back to simpler days: scones (or biscuits, depending on where you’re from) with jam and cream, hot toast draped in melting butter and liberally dressed with jam, jam tarts, bread, and jam pudding…the list goes on.

Natural jams have the edge of not including aggressive chemicals or more sugar than necessary, making them a healthier yet delicious alternative. If you’ve got a little jam left in a few jars or an overload from canning season, and you’re not sure what to do with it, these wholesome snack recipes featuring natural jams will go over well in your home.

Trust me.

We shan’t use a recipe card today, as we’ve got 3 recipes. So scroll down from the yum to start!

Macaroons are such a refined tea or coffee-time treat that many people forget you don’t have to be a veteran baker to make some version of them. This tray bake is the perfect item to make for a summer picnic or backyard party, and it feeds an army!

Fruit fillings are great sweeteners since you really don’t need a whole lot of the product – just a dollop here and there. They’re coconutty, sweet, and delicious. I’m a huge fan!

What You’ll Need

• 250g caster sugar
• 4 egg whites
• beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g desiccated coconut
• 25g plain flour
• 200g raspberry jam
• 100g dark chocolate chopped

Method

• Line a 20 x 30cm baking tin with baking paper and heat your oven to 180C (350F/160C fan/gas 4).
• Combine the vanilla, sugar, egg whites, and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Add the flour and coconut and stir until thoroughly combined—the mixture should look sticky and thick. Scrape into the tin and gently spread it around with a spatula. Using a teaspoon, drop dots of jam over the top and press them into the batter.
• Bake for 25-30 mins, until golden brown at the edges. Leave to cool completely.
• Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave or a bowl over simmering water. Remove the cake from the tin, drizzle with chocolate, and leave to set before slicing into squares. Store in an airtight container and eat within a week.

If you’re a home baker with a roll of puff pastry hiding in the freezer for ages, this is the recipe for you! If you’re more of a pastry purist and like to make it by hand every time, the recipe may take longer, but it’ll be just as delicious. If you’re so inclined, you could drizzle these with dark chocolate and serve as a teatime or movie night treat. Whichever kind of jam you have available will do well in this recipe.

What You’ll Need

• 320g sheet puff pastry
• 1 heaped tbsp jam of your preference- strawberry, blueberry, or apricot are excellent choices
• icing sugar for dusting
• clotted cream to serve

Do you want to make something that looks impressive but is a cinch to finish? Viennese Whirls are refined, buttery sandwich cookies that look as though they belong on a silver tray in some stunningly draped and decorated parlor somewhere. Using jam is the theme of the day, but these can also be made as chocolate-dipped biscuits.

What You’ll Need

For the cookies

• 200g slightly salted butter
• softened
• 50g icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp cornflour
• ½ tsp baking powder

For the filling

• 100g butter
• softened
• 170g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50g raspberry jam
• or strawberry jam

Method

• Heat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk until pale and fluffy- about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and beat again.
• Sift in the cornflour, regular flour, and baking powder, then fold into the mixture using a spatula until combined- the dough should look and feel tacky.
• Spoon the dough into a piping bag using a large star-shaped nozzle. Pipe swirly circles 5cm in diameter onto 2 baking sheets, making sure there are 3 cm spaces in between each one.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, switching the trays around halfway through the cooking time so the cookies are evenly baked. Cookies should be golden brown. Let cool on the sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks.
• Make the filling while the cookies cool. Put the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl and combine them first with a wooden spoon, then use an electric whisk to make the buttercream fluffy and smooth. Add the vanilla extract and beat again. Put the buttercream in a piping bag.
• Turn the cookies flat side up. Pipe buttercream over half of the cookies and spread jam on the rest. Sandwich a jam cookie and an icing cookie together—repeat until all the cookies are paired up.

Use up your natural jams and make a snack that will leave everyone’s mouths watering and have them begging for more! They’re easy, they’re delicious, and they’re definitely going to go down well at your next event.

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