Tuesdays with Dorie—Buttery Jam Cookies

These 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

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! 

Tasting 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):
• Nemmie from Cast Sugar also made some beautiful piped versions

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