"Don't over-bake the cookies! They shouldn't get brown."
- Big Mama
These are little layered cookies with colorful jam centers. It's best to use a vairety of round cookie cutters with curvey edges to make them even more fun looking. They are really light and delicate, and though there are many steps to making them, the process is pleasant and satisfying in the end. Though they store well, they never last long once they come out of the oven!
- Big Mama
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) of cold, unsalted butter
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons ice water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup jam (I like apricot and raspberry best)
Preparation:
- Cut butter into bits. Into a bowl sift together flour and confectioners sugar. Add butter and with a pastry blender or your fingertips blend until it resembles meal.
- In a small bowl whisk together yolk, ice water, and vanilla and add to flour mixture, stirring until mixture forms a dough.
- On a work surface smear dough with heel of hand in a forward motion several times and form dough into a ball. Dust dough with flour. Chill dough, wrapped in wax paper, 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 2 baking sheets.
- Halve dough. On a second floured surface roll out one of the halves, 1/8 inch thick, and cut into rounds with a 1 1/2 inch scalloped cutter. Gather scraps. Re-roll scraps and cut out more rounds.
- Roll out remaining half of dough and cut out more rounds. With a 1/2 inch plain round cutter (or equally small decorative edged cutter) cut out centers of halves of rounds to form rings (which the jam will smoosh through).
- Bake rounds and rings in batches on baking sheets in the middle of the oven for 12 minutes, or until pale golden. Transfer cookies with a metal spatula to racks and cool.
- In a small saucepan heat jam, stirring until melted, and with a rubber spatula force jam through a fine sieve into a bowl.
- Lightly spread bottom of each round with some jam and top with 1 ring. Drop a scant 1/4 teaspoon remaining jam in center of each cookie.
- Let cookies stand on racks 1 hour. Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container and chilled, 2 days.