Wanna Green Bean

16 December 2007

Jelly Thumbprints

These cookies are a holiday staple in my family. I can’t think of a year that someone didn’t make at least one batch of these cookies.

The original recipe calls for apricot jam or preserves to fill the cookies, but any flavor can work. I have found in the past that jam or preserves are best, jelly is too runny and has too much sugar in it. Last time I used grape jelly the fruity dots caramelized or escaped the cookie and ran all over the baking sheet. My favorite is raspberry and strawberry preserves.

This recipe makes about 7 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used the juice from half a lemon)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (I used the zest from one whole lemon)
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup apricot preserves (or strawberry, or raspberry, or peach, or …)

Directions

Start by zesting and juicing your lemon (if you’re using the real stuff).

Add the butter, sugar, and cream cheese to the mixing bowl. To soften the butter and cream cheese, I zap each for 30 seconds on high in the microwave (watch them so they don’t melt!).

Cream these three ingredients together until smooth and creamy (and tasty!)

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest.

Mix until smooth and liquid looking. There will be a few blobs of cream cheese left, but it should be mostly uniform looking.

Combine the flour and baking powder.

Stir into the cream cheese mixture about 1/3 at a time, until just combined.

You’ll have to switch over from the mixer to a spoon and man power towards the end of adding the flour.

Cover and stick in the refrigerator or freezer until firm (it depends on how much time you have to make these). Do not skip this! You’ll be covered in sticky dough if you do.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Roll level tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. The original directions say to use ungreased sheets, but my cookies stuck. Keep the dough in the fridge or freezer while the cookies are baking. This keeps the dough firm and easy to roll into balls.

Make an indentation in the center of each ball. I used a handy coffee scoop lightly greased to do this, but your fingers work well too.

They should look something like this:

Fill with 1/2 teaspoon of your chosen jelly or preserves.

The directions say to bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. The cookies become a little dry and too crumbly for my liking and I found that 10 minutes works just fine. The insides of the cookies are baked through, but are still soft and moist (the way a cookie should be).

Allow to cool for two minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Be careful if the jelly centers are runny, hot jam burns.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used the juice from half a lemon)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (I used the zest from one whole lemon)
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup apricot preserves (or strawberry, or raspberry, or peach, or …)

Directions

Zest and juice the lemon (if using real lemon juice). Combine the butter, sugar and cream cheese. Mix until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, than the lemon juice and zest.

In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients slowly, in parts. Mix well.

Put the dough in the refrigerator or freezer until chilled (about an hour in the refrigerator half hour in the freezer).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Shape level tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Using your finger, thumb, or other implement make an indentation in the center to fill with jam/preserves.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until set and very lightly browned.

About 7 dozen cookies.

Tags: baked, cookies, dessert, holiday, snacks, sweet

December 16, 2007, 08:03:10 PM | Permalink | Subscribe | Stumble It! |