Starting with A...

In January when I first came up with the idea of starting a blog, I decided to work through the alphabet making cookies. I was just coming out of a joyous holiday baking season was desperately looking for an excuse to continue making cookies. Also, I figured it would get me out of the rut of making the same old cookies every time.

The cookies selected for letter A are Austrian Jam cookies. This is basically a shortbread cookie rolled in chopped almonds. The center is pressed down and bit of jam is placed in the imprint.

Austrian Jam Cookies

1/2 cup butter 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar 2/3 cup chopped almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup strawberry or raspberry jam or preserves
1 egg yolk

*Cream together butter and sugar. Add in vanilla and egg yolk. Continue to mix until light and fluffy. Stir in flour until completely mixed. Roll in ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for approximately 2 hrs.

Pre heat oven to 300 degrees.

Measure out dough in about 1 inch balls. Roll the balls in the chopped almonds and place on cookie sheets. Using your thumb, create an indentation on each cookie. Fill each indentation with jam/preserves using either a teaspoon or pastry bag.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

*Note: It is important that the butter and sugar be creamed and the batter light and fluffy prior to adding the flour, otherwise, batter will be very crumbly. My batter was somewhat crumbly, so a bit of milk was added prior to the refrigeration step.