Scottish Snowballs
Traditional recipe for proper Scottish Snowballs. Delicious little buns, sandwiched with jam, and coated in icing & coconut.
Prep Time30 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Scottish
Keyword: Buns, Coconut, Jam
Servings: 10
- 225 g Self-raising Flour
- ¼ tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 80 g Caster Sugar (Superfine Sugar)
- 80 g Butter or Block Margarine
- 1 Free-range Egg whole
- 1 Free-range Egg Yolk
- 1 tbsp Milk
To decorate
- Strawberry or Raspberry Jam (Jelly)
- 225 g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
- 2-3 tbsp Boiling Water
- 60-70 g Desiccated Coconut (Shredded Coconut)
Preheat oven your oven to 200°c (180°c for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 6 or 400°F) and lightly grease a couple of baking sheets with some excess butter/margarine. Set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter/margarine and rub with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir through the sugar.
In a small bowl or mug, beat the eggs & milk together. Add to the dry ingredients, mix until combined and you have a soft dough (you may need to use your hands).
Turn your dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until it is smooth. Divide your dough into 20 even-sized balls, placing them onto your prepared baking sheets, with a bit of space between each.
Bake in your pre-heated oven or 12-15 minutes, until they are risen and a light golden colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little on the baking sheets.
Once cool enough to touch but still warm, spread a little bit of jam (about half a teaspoon) onto the flat side of half the snowball buns before sandwiching the other halves to them. Place them into an empty muffin tin to stop them sliding apart whilst they continue to cool and the jam sets.
To decorate
Once you snowball buns have cooled and the jam has set, you can prepare your icing. In a small but relatively deep bowl, mix your icing sugar with 2-3 tablespoons of water, until you have a thin consistency. Decant your coconut into a similar (but different) bowl and keep it close by.
Start by rolling your buns in the icing, until completely coated. Hold your snowball bun above the icing and allow the excess to drip off, before transferring straight into the coconut. Roll your now-iced snowball bun in coconut until it is completely coated. Transfer to your muffin tin and repeat with the other snowballs, until they are all coated in icing and coconut.
Allow your snowballs to set for an hour or so before enjoying.
- For full explanations of each ingredient - including possible substitutions - see the Ingredients section above.
- If you want your snowballs to be uniform in size, you can weigh the total dough before rolling it into balls; divide the total number by 20, then weigh out each ball to this individual weight.
- Coating your snowballs in icing and coconut can be messy. If you can recruit an extra pair of hands, this will help. You can use spoons or forks if you are concerned about getting your hands dirty, but I find this overcomplicates things, and it's far easier to get right in with your fingers!
- For more tips for success, see Granny's Top Tips section above.
- Scottish Snowballs will last a few days after baking in an airtight container.