Jam Sweethearts Recipes

NEWFOUNDLAND JAM JAMS

Steps:

• Sift together the flour salt and baking powder and set aside.
• Cream the brown sugar with the butter.
• Beat in the egg.
• Beat in the molasses.
• Stir in the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms.
• Chill dough for several hours or overnight before rolling it out on a well floured board and cutting out 3 inch circles. Cut a ½ inch circle out of the center of half of the rolled out cookies.
• Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes.
• Flip the bottom halves of the cookies over (those without the center holes) on the cookie sheet and while the cookies are still hot, spoon 1 tbsp partridgeberry apple jam per cookie (or your favorite jelly) onto the middle of the flipped cookies and spread it out slightly but not to the edges.
• Use the cookies with the circle cut-outs as the tops of the sandwich cookies and press down slightly.
• Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes. This step helps the jam to stick better but you can just cool them and put them together cold too, but they tend to be a little messier.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• Alternatively, you can just roll the dough into 1 inch balls, roll the balls in plain sugar and bake them on a parchment lined cookie sheet for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees F. You can make sandwich cookies out of them or serve them as soft molasses cookies just as they are.

JAM SWEETHEARTS

Steps:

• Beat butter & sugar together in a bowl.
• Add yolk and vanilla and beat the mixture until smooth.
• Add flour and salt and mix everything to form a smooth dough.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
• Cut out with 1 1/2-2in circle cookie cutters.
• Arrange cookies on baking sheet.
• Cut hearts from half of the cookies with 1in heart cutters.
• Bake for 12 minutes.
• Cool Completely.
• Make frostingby beating butter until smooth, then gradually adding icing sugar, water and vanilla.
• Spread frosting over whole (not heart) cookies.
• Drop a small spoonful of jam on top of frosting.
• Press heart cookies on top of whole cookies.

SWEETHEART THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350˚F. Beat butter with confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Beat in flour until a dough forms.
• Roll level tablespoons of dough into balls; arrange 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Using the end of the handle of a flat-bottomed eating utensil or rubber spatula, press two deep indentations into the center of each ball to create a V (it will expand during baking to become a heart).
• Bake until bottoms are golden and cookies are just set, 17 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together sanding sugar and a tiny pinch of luster dust. In a small bowl, beat egg white with 1 teaspoon water. Working with a few cookies at a time, brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle generously with sanding-sugar mixture.
• Return to oven and bake until egg wash is dry and sugar has set, about 1 minute. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.
• In a small saucepan, bring jam to a boil. Press through a fine-mesh strainer; discard solids. Spoon into heart indentations (about 1/2 teaspoon per cookie), or transfer heated jam to squeeze bottles for more precision. Let jam set completely before serving. (Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.)