Name: Jam roly-poly
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 50g salted butter cold and cut into chunks, plus extra for greasing; 250g self-raising flour plus extra for rolling; 1 vanilla pod seeds scraped out; 50g shredded suet; 150ml milk plus a drop more if needed; 100g/4oz raspberry or plum jam, or a mixture; custard to serve

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Jam roly-poly

Jam roly-poly

Good Food team

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Serves 6

More effort

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 1 hr

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.78 ratingsRate

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This jam roly-poly is simple to make, comforting and sure to bring back memories of traditional school dinners

Freezable

Nut-free

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Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

50g salted butter

cold and cut into chunks, plus extra for greasing
250g self-raising flour

plus extra for rolling
1 vanilla pod

seeds scraped out
50g shredded suet
150ml milk

plus a drop more if needed
100g/4oz raspberry or plum

jam, or a mixture
custard

to serve

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Nutrition: per serving

kcal330
fat16g
saturates8g
carbs45g
sugars13g
fibre1g
protein5g
salt0.56g

low

Method

step 1

Put a deep roasting tin onto the bottom shelf of the oven, and make sure that there’s another shelf directly above it. Pull the roasting tin out on its shelf, fill two-thirds with boiling water from the kettle, then carefully slide it back in. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tear off a large sheet of foil and greaseproof paper (about 30 x 40cm). Sit the greaseproof on top of the foil and butter it.
step 2

Tip butter, flour and vanilla seeds into a food processor; pulse until the butter has disappeared. Tip into a mixing bowl. Stir through the suet, pour in the milk and work together with a cutlery knife until you get a sticky dough. You may need a drop more milk, depending on your flour.
step 3

Tip the dough out onto a floured surface, quickly pat together to smooth, then roll out to a square roughly 25 x 25cm. Spread the jam all over, leaving a gap along one edge, then roll up from the opposite edge. Pinch the jam-free edge into the dough where it meets, and pinch the ends roughly, too. Carefully lift onto the greased paper, join-side down (you might find a flat baking sheet helpful for this), loosely bring up the paper and foil around it, then scrunch together along the edges and ends to seal. The roly-poly will puff quite a bit during cooking so don’t wrap it tightly. Lift the parcel directly onto the rack above the tin and cook for 1 hr.
step 4

Let the pudding sit for 5 mins before unwrapping, then carefully open the foil and paper, and thickly slice to serve.

Test Kitchen tips for making jam roly-poly:

Work the dough as little as possible: overworking develops the gluten and gives a dense, heavy pastry rather than a light one.
Go easy on the jam. Spread a thin, even layer over the rolled-out square and keep the gap along one edge, so you can seal the seam cleanly. Too much filling is the most common cause of jam leaking out and soaking into the pastry.
Leave the parcel loose: a tightly wrapped parcel restricts the rise and gives a cramped, solid pudding.
Swap the jam to suit the season: try blackcurrant, cherry, strawberry or even a mixture if you've got a few jars to use up.
For a vegetarian pudding, use vegetable suet in place of the shredded suet, as it behaves in the same way and keeps the classic texture.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2009

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A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.78 ratings

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