Delightful Jam Cookies

These delicate butter cookies, filled with dollops of jam are irresistible for any occasion! They look fancy, like little stained glass windows,  but are so easy and quick to make. 

My husband, father and son love these so much, they pretty much disappear once they hit the cooling racks! They’re also great fun for the kids to make, as it involves a lot of rolling, pressing down with the thumb and filling. My 5 year old always gets excited when she makes these, as there’s nothing more enjoyable than playing with delicious smelling dough! 

SERVINGS: around 40 cookies

INGREDIENTS:

230 g butter (unsalted and softened to room temperature)

110 g white sugar

2 egg yolks 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

290 g all-purpose-flour 

Small pinch of salt

150 ml raspberry jam (or other flavor of choice)

METHOD:

Prepare 2 baking trays lined with wax paper, and preheat the oven (mine is a convection fan-forced oven) to 170 degrees Celsius. 

Using the paddle attachment of a standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar and pale, white and creamy. Add the egg yolks, pinch of salt and vanilla extract and continue to mix until well combined. 

Add the flour and mix until the dough comes together. Using a teaspoon (the dough will spread a little), take a spoonful of dough and roll between your hands quickly. Place the ball on the baking sheet and keep at least a distance of around 3 cm between each cookie ball.  If the dough becomes too soft to work with, refrigerate dough for around 20 minutes. 

Using your index finger or thumb, gently press an indent in the middle of each cookie ball, to make a little hole. Do not flatten the center too much, or it will be too thin, and will break easily when trying to remove them later from the baking sheet (particularly as the jam will moisten the center slightly).

Using another teaspoon, fill the holes with jam of choice (around 1/3 - 1/2 tsp per cookie) ensuring not to create an overflow of jam  (the jam will bubble out if the hole if filled too much).  Place the cookie sheet, one at a time in the oven for around 12 minutes, until the base of the cookie is slightly golden. For more even results, turn the baking tray around mid-way through the cooking time. 

Remove tray from the oven and allow to cool for around 15 minutes before removing with a spatula and placing on a cooling rack. Once cooled completely, store in an air tight container. 

Buon Appetito! Bon Appetit! Guten Appetit! En Guete! Itadakimasu!

Gastronomically yours,

💖 Pia