Jam-Filled Christmas Cookies

Submitted by Lennie

"Cookies of this type are usually rolled in beaten egg white, which I find a fussy step. That is why I like this recipe so much; it's tasty AND easy. I found it back in the 1980s in a Norene Gilletz book. They look wonderful on a cookie tray."

 

• Ready In: 33mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Yields: 48 cookies

ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup walnut pieces
• 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1⁄2 cup cold butter or 1/2 cup margarine, cut in chunks
• 1⁄2 cup icing sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 1⁄2 cup seedless raspberry jam (or jam of your choice)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F; line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a food processor fitted with steel blade, process walnuts and 1/4 cup of the flour until nuts are quite finely chopped; remove from processor into a dish and set aside.
3. Place remaining flour into food processor, along with butter and icing sugar; process until mixture has a crumbly texture, about 10 seconds or so.
4. Return nut mixture to food processor, along with almond extract and the egg.
5. Process until entire mixture is combined; 15 seconds or so.
6. Make one-inch balls from mixture and place on prepared cookie sheet; using the end of a wooden spoon, make an indentation into each cookie.
7. Fill each hole with a wee bit of jam; I prefer seedless raspberry, but will use strawberry too-- I find the red jams suit the holiday season, but you can use any jam you want.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown.

Reviews

[Ckaz D.]

15 minutes was way too much! They got too dry and burned on the bottom ??

 

[the veggie plot]

These were so easy to make, i am making dozens to give away this Christmas. I made one mistake and tried a batch with wholemeal flour..don't, they just didn't taste right. My only change would be to add a little more icing sugar as another person suggested. However excellent mini cookies.

 

[CookinwithGas]

I've never done what amounts to being a thumbprint style cookie before, but this recipe made it a very good experience! Oh and this was also the first time that I ever mixed an entire recipe in my little food processor, a fascinating experience! UPDATE; I've made this a few more times since and I highly recommend increasing the amount of confectioner's (icing) sugar as the cookie is much better sweeter! I've tried it @ 3/4 c. but I may even up it to a full cup the next time i make it! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[morningfeather]

These cookies went together very easily but they were dry and had no taste. I had to throw the whole batch away because I just couldn't put them on my Christmas platters. I had such high expectations too... sorry!

 

[magpie diner]

Got to love any dough recipe that you can throw together entirely in the food processor! I read the other reviews and noted to shorten the baking time, but in the end, I needed 15 minutes, so it was bang on for me. I used mostly whole wheat flour (used white for the first 1/4 cup). I ended up doubling the recipe and used 3 eggs all together...if I had added 4 it would have been too runny. The dough was easy to roll into balls and baked nicely. Obviously, a different texture because of the ww flour. For my third batch into the oven I flattened them out a little more, pressed lightly into some sugar, and then made the jam indents. That batch turned out the best by far, so I'll do it that way next time. Thanks, this was a breeze and they look great!