Fresh Strawberry Jam Cookies (Printer-friendly)

Buttery cookies bursting with fresh strawberry jam, ideal for teatime or sharing.

# Required Ingredients:

→ Cookie Dough

01 - 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
02 - 2/3 cup granulated sugar
03 - 1 large egg yolk
04 - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
05 - 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
06 - 1/4 teaspoon salt

→ Strawberry Jam Filling

07 - 3/4 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and diced
08 - 1/3 cup granulated sugar
09 - 2 teaspoons lemon juice

# How-To Steps:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
02 - In a small saucepan, combine diced strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until strawberries break down and mixture thickens, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
03 - In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract, beating until fully combined.
04 - Gradually add flour and salt to the wet mixture, mixing until a soft dough forms.
05 - Scoop tablespoon-sized portions of dough and roll into balls. Arrange on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
06 - Use your thumb or the back of a teaspoon to make an indentation in the center of each dough ball.
07 - Fill each indentation with approximately 1/2 teaspoon of cooled strawberry jam.
08 - Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until edges are just turning golden.
09 - Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

# Expert Suggestions:

01 -
  • The dough comes together so quickly that you'll have cookies cooling before you've even finished your first cup of coffee.
  • Homemade jam tastes so different from the jarred stuff that your guests will actually ask for the recipe, which never happens with store-bought versions.
  • They're elegant enough for a tea party but casual enough to eat straight from the cooling rack when no one's watching.
02 -
  • Room temperature butter makes all the difference between cookies that spread perfectly and ones that stay too thick and cake-like.
  • If your jam is still warm when you fill the cookies, it will seep out and create jam puddles on your baking sheet, so patience with cooling really matters here.
  • The edges turning golden brown is your signal to stop baking, because the centers will continue setting as they cool and overbaking makes them dry.
03 -
  • Chilling the dough for 30 minutes before scooping makes the cookies hold their shape better and prevents them from spreading too wide.
  • If your jam is running off during baking, it probably wasn't completely cool, but if it happens, you can always spoon a tiny bit more jam on top after baking when the cookies have cooled.
  • Letting the cookies cool on the baking sheet for those first 5 minutes is non-negotiable, even though you're impatient to eat one.
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