Description
Homemade Jam Cookies bring delightful sweetness to classic afternoon treats. Crisp buttery edges and fruity centers create irresistible moments of pure comfort for cookie enthusiasts seeking simple Mediterranean-style baking pleasures.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (226 grams)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup fruit jam or preserves (e.g., raspberry, strawberry, apricot) (118 milliliters)
Binding Ingredients:
- 1 large egg yolk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Flavor and Decoration Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- Finely chopped nuts for rolling
Instructions
- Blend softened butter and sugar in a spacious mixing bowl until the mixture becomes airy and pale, creating a smooth foundation for the cookies.
- Incorporate egg yolk and vanilla extract, stirring thoroughly to ensure complete integration of the rich, aromatic ingredients.
- Prepare a separate mixing vessel and sift together flour and salt, creating a uniform dry mixture.
- Gently fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, working carefully until a cohesive, tender dough emerges.
- Encase the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of half an hour, allowing the ingredients to rest and solidify.
- Heat the oven to 350F (175C) and line baking trays with parchment paper for optimal cookie preparation.
- Craft uniform spherical dough portions, approximately one inch in diameter. Optional: Roll the dough balls in finely chopped nuts to enhance textural complexity.
- Arrange the dough spheres on prepared baking sheets, maintaining generous spacing between each cookie.
- Create a delicate indentation in the center of each dough ball using either your thumb or the curved edge of a small spoon.
- Delicately spoon jam into the center of each cookie, ensuring precise filling without overflowing.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, watching for a subtle golden hue along the cookie’s edges.
- Allow cookies to rest on the baking sheet for five minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack.
- Once completely cooled, optionally dust with a light veil of powdered sugar for an elegant finishing touch.
- Preserve the cookies in an airtight container, maintaining freshness for up to five days at room temperature.
Notes
- Customize jam flavors to match seasonal preferences or personal taste, experimenting with raspberry, strawberry, apricot, or even exotic options like lavender or passion fruit.
- Chill dough thoroughly to prevent spreading and maintain cookie shape, ensuring a perfect round texture with clean edges during baking.
- Prevent jam from leaking by creating a deeper indentation and using thick, high-quality preserves with less liquid content.
- Adjust texture for gluten-free diets by substituting all-purpose flour with almond or gluten-free flour blend, adding a small amount of xanthan gum for better binding.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 24
- Calories: 120
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 50 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg