austrian jam cookies.



I actually wasn't planning on baking anything this morning. The kitchen was a mess and I was feeling quite sleepy, but then Alice came by and suggested that I bake something small and simple. After trying to decide if I should go for a miniature cake, she mentioned a recipe that she had seen me use a few months ago- Austrian Jam Cookies, which are sweet and buttery cookies with a smidgen of jam in the center.

This is one of those recipes that I have never failed with. It is just so very simple and rather quick, and always seems to come out delicious. It can be made vegan or non-vegan (I have always done the non-dairy, no egg version) and can be made to your liking. Even if you are not a huge fan of jam, there are various other things you can use to fill your centers: Nutella, nut butter, Hershey's kisses, honey, etc. For this time, I used Hero Peach Preserves, Eden Organic Apple Butter, and Ikea's Lingonsylt (Swedish Lingonberry Preserves).







Austrian Jam Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup margarine or butter (I use Earth Balance)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs or egg replacer "eggs"
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or almond extract, or both)
jam (or filling of your choice)
slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, preferably with an electric mixer, beat margarine or butter, sugar, eggs, and extract(s) until smooth and creamy. Sift flour in 1 cup at a time. Roll dough into balls. Roll in slivered almonds (optional). Place on cookie sheet and thumbprint each cookie. Scoop jam into dented center (I find it best to use a small kid's spoon for this).
Bake for 12-14 minutes, until bottoms are golden. Remove from cookie sheet after a few minutes to cool.



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