Jam Filled Spice Cookie
Submitted by grammysan5
Jam-filled spice cookies with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves sandwiched with apricot or raspberry preserves. Buttery shortbread-style cutout cookies with a stained-glass window center.
YIELD
3 dozenPREP
4 hrsCOOK
12 minREADY
5 hrsThese spice cookies are the kind of project baking that pays off beautifully. A buttery dough spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves gets rolled, cut into rounds, and half the rounds get a small center punched out. Sandwich them together with jam and you get a cookie that looks like a tiny stained-glass window.
Dark Karo syrup in the dough adds chewiness and a deep, almost caramel-like sweetness that regular sugar alone can’t deliver. It also keeps the cookies soft for days instead of going stale overnight.
The one-hour chill in the fridge is doing structural work. Cold dough rolls out cleanly without sticking to the counter or losing its shape when you cut it. If it starts warming up and getting sticky while you work, slide it back in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Roll to exactly ¼ inch thick. Too thin and the cookies are fragile; too thick and the spice flavor gets lost in a bland, bready bite.
Kitchen Tips
- Keep half the dough refrigerated while you roll and cut the other half
- Flour your cutters between every few cuts to keep the edges clean
- Use ¾ teaspoon of jam per sandwich, not more; too much squeezes out the sides
- These store well in an airtight container for up to a week
Variations
- Use raspberry, strawberry, or fig preserves depending on the season
- Dust the finished cookies with powdered sugar for a snowy holiday look
- Add ¼ teaspoon of cardamom to the spice blend for a Scandinavian twist
Ingredients
Directions
About 2½ hours before serving or up to 1 week ahead, in a large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
At low speed, beat in flour and remaining ingredients except preserves; beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula.
With hands, shape dough into a ball; wrap with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate until easy to handle, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
On lightly floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll half of dough ¼ inch thick, keeping remaining dough refrigerated.
With floured 2½ inch round cookie cutter, cut dough into rounds.
With floured ¾ inch round cookie cutter, cut out centers from half of rounds.
With pancake turner, place round ½ inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes until; lightly browned.
With pancake turner, remove cookies to wire racks to cool.
Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings.
To assemble cookies, spoon about ¾ teaspoon preserves in cookie with cut-out center, gently pressing cookies together.
Store in tightly covered container to use up within 1 week.
Comments
