Vaniljkakor (Swedish Vanilla Cookies)

Wildflour's Note:

This is one of my favorite cookies. It's from my Swedish Grandma. They are very simple, but I think that's what I like about them. Very tender and rich.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 2.5 dozen

• 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
• 2⁄3; cup powdered sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon good vanilla
• 2 ¼ cups sifted flour
• 1⁄3; cup raspberry jam (or assorted jams and jellies)
• powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar well.
2. Gradually add sugar, and cream until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and flour, blend thoroughly.
4. Roll into walnut-sized balls and place on greased cookie sheet.
5. Make a nice indentation in top of each cookie, I use the end (the handle end)of a wooden spoon for this.
6. Put a little bit of jelly or jam into each indentation.
7. Bake in 350º oven for at least 15 minutes or til pale golden yellow.
8. Cool, then sift powdered sugar over them.
9. *Tips for measuring four!
10. When recipes say "flour, sifted", it means to measure the flour into a sifter, then sift into the rest of the ingredients.
11. When a recipe says "sifted flour", that means that you sift flour into a separate bowl first, then measure it, then add to the rest of the ingredients. In this recipe, if you don't sift the flour first, you will be adding too much, and your dough will be a little dry and hard to work with.
12. Also, lightly spoon your flour into your measuring cup, don't scoop it from the bag or your bowl. Scooping it compacts the flour and you will be adding too much whether it has been sifted first or not. (Then always level it off with the straight edge of a knife.).
13. Some recipes are "forgiving", but baking recipes aren't always that forgiving! Correct measuring can be extremely important.
14. Hope this helps! :).

Reviews

[Leah's Kitchen]

A wonderful treat! They were so simple to make but look and are delicious! I found it easy to just pipe the raspberry jam into the indentation with a little plastic bag. They would be great to serve for company with different jams in them! I like them also because they weren't very sweet, they took more of the sweetness from the jam itself than the cookie. Thank you Wildflour for posting your Grandma's recipe!

[bbh]

These are exquisite little cookies - and they are perfect for Christmas. My grandson took one bite and said I had to give them the recipe. They are buttery and just melt in your mouth. I used seedless raspberry jam - my favorite. These are really special.

[delish #2]

These cookies are perfect!My grandma used to make cookies like these too.Nothing feeds a cooks soul like finding recipes from your childhood and making them for your family.I followed the recipe exactly and used Leah's great tip on piping the jam into the cookies.I'm so glad I found this recipe, I will definitely be making lots at christmas.Beautiful cookies!Thanks for posting wildflour:)