Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie—Buttery Jam Cookies

Buttery Jam CookiesThese cookies are a cross between a biscuit and a cookie. The jam part of the equation is from the jam that's in the batter. But by adding a bit of extra homemade cinnamon crabapple jelly after baking, they transformed from cookie to breakfast treat without [any] guilt. The hint of ginger in them is nice, and maybe a few more spices like nutmeg, allspice or cardamom would be even tastier next time.

A few of us on Twitter were talking about the differences between muffins and cupcakes. One you eat before 11 am and the other after 11 am. One without buttercream frosting before 11 am and the other with frosting after 11 am. These cookies are another treat you can justify before 11 am if you add the jam or jelly and think of them as scones or biscuits instead of cookies!

I sprinkled some of the cookies with cinnamon sugar ("toast dope"). I also tried baking them in a madeleine pan, but they were too cakey for my liking. I even tried forming them into a heart surrounded by two candy canes. Cute and tasty but not so pretty. My favorite version was sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and a dollop of homemade jam (or in my case, homemade crabapple cinnamon jelly).

Recipe

Makes about 45 cookies

Ingredients for Buttery Jam Cookies
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup apricot jam (or your flavor of choice)

You can find the recipe for Buttery Jam Cookies in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Heather of Randomosity and the Girl who chose the recipe for this week and will post the recipe.

Buttery Jam CookiesTasting Notes
These cookies are a perfect little breakfast treat! They are easy drop cookies that don't spread much during baking. I could also see them as a base for thumbprint-style cookies. They're an all around easy cookie for your holiday cookie line-up.

Recipe for Next Week (December 23)
Real Butterscotch Pudding on page 386 chosen by Donna of Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases.

Other Christmas cookie ideas:
Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies
Linzer Sablés
Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Lenox Almond Biscotti
Rugelach

Other pretty Buttery Jam Cookies I found this week (before the onslaught of 300+ TWD bakers):
• Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice made beautiful piped Buttery Jam Cookies
• Nemmie from Cast Sugar also made some beautiful piped versions

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  • 22 comments:

    CookiePie said...

    I love your reasoning for cupcakes vs. muffins and cookies in the morning! I also think that anything you eat before 11 a.m. has fewer calories than if you ate it later in the day :) Your cookies look great! Perfect with that morning cup of coffee :)

    Engineer Baker said...

    I 100% agree with your reasoning on muffins and cookies at breakfast. Although that might be because I'm trying to convince myself as well... :) Cinnamon crabapple jelly sounds delicious!

    Anonymous said...

    I love the fruit spread on top...makes them look like jewels. Pretty or not, the candy cane ones look amazingly good and interesting...where do you come up with these ideas? Great looking cookies...thanks for the links to others.

    Jules Someone said...

    Are you saying that other cookies aren't good for breakfast? Darn. The jelly sounds so yummy!

    natalia said...

    Ciao Shari! I would like to know how you make that wonderful jelly !!I shoul have added some too !

    vibi said...

    Yay! I see the free-form artist peeking through the plain bland cookie! Anyone else does? LOL
    Beautiful light in the pic, Shari... and intelligent take on cupcakes/muffins!

    Shelby said...

    I'm with you! We really enjoyed these cookies!

    Cathy said...

    How cute do they look with the candy canes? And I like your thinking on the cupcake/muffin/cookie issues!

    Melissa said...

    Cinnamon crabapple jelly sounds fabulous! They look almost too good to eat!

    kimberly salem said...

    yum, the cinnamon sugar sounds delicious on top!! :) that would be my favorite too. btw i have eaten these for breakfast for the past two days;)

    Jacque said...

    Mmm, I wish I'd have tried the cinnamon sugar on top.

    Yours looks so cute :)

    Di said...

    Great thinking! Now I feel better about eating several of my cookies early in the morning. =) Your cookies look great with the jam on top.

    LyB said...

    These definitely are perfect for breakfast. And with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar, they sound perfect!

    Anonymous said...

    I dig your cardamon idea. I'll have to try that too.

    Manggy said...

    Oh, so weird! Your last 5 posts just poured into my RSS feed reader! What in the world happened!? Oh well, technology! :P
    The cookies look yummy (more sugar=always better, heh heh)! Too bad about the candy cane hearts, though (how is it that one side melted and the other didn't? I think if both melted or both stayed solid, there's something in there!) :)

    Tammy said...

    your cookies look gorgeous with that lovely jelly on top!

    The Food Librarian said...

    So cute! I love the cinnamon toast flavoring on top too!

    steph- whisk/spoon said...

    i'd love the cinnamon sugar ones, too! the jam looks beautiful on top--sparkly and sunny!

    Peggy said...

    Love the milkshakes! And you are right about cupcakes v. muffins. Your cookies look great too!

    Beryl said...

    Beautiful with the spread on top. And I love your Holiday milkshakes!

    Jaime said...

    love the first photo!

    AmyRuth said...

    Shari,
    Totally agree with the rational of eating them as a breakfast "carb" (Ho Ho HO). Anyway, basically anyway you can rationalize it, right? So simple and just a nice little comfort cookies thing. Love the jelly on top.
    Happy Holidays! & Stay Warm
    AmyRuth