This recipe will left my hands stained with patches of food colour colouring, as if I had attended a B&S Ball.

I’ve never actually attended a B&S Ball, (Bachelor and Spinsters Balls for those of you who are not Australian), but a girl I used to work with loved them. She told me the attendees dress up in formal evening wear, with gumboots if the location is muddy, in order to drink to excess, dance and throw food colouring at each other, then sleep it off in the back of a ute or a swag. She very often turned up at work on a Monday morning stained all over with food colouring saying she had the best time ever at a B&S Ball at some country town or other.

3 and a 1/2 Cups self raising flour
350 gm butter
1 Cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tspn vanilla extract
4 packets of different coloured jelly (I used Blue Heaven, Passionfruit, Strawberry and Port Wine).
Food colouring if desired.

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour.

Divide the dough into four.

Take each section and knead together with 2 tablespoons of jelly crystals. Add food colouring if desired to enhance the biscuit’s colour. Roll into small balls, then roll in leftover jelly crystals.

Place on baking tray and leave room to spread. I pressed the first batch down using a fork, but realised this was unecessary and didn’t bother with the other batches and left them as balls.

Bake for approximately 12 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius. Leave on the tray to cool slightly before moving the biscuits to a wire rack. The recipe makes about 80 biscuits.