RUBY JEWEL COOKIES

Ruby Jewel Cookies

Here's the recipe from the book, William Sonoma Baking.

(with my modification in blue)

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

(1/2 = 40-60 cookies! Yield depends on the size of the cookies that you made.)

2 large egg yolks (1/2 = 1)

1 tsp vanilla extract (1/2 =1/2 tsp vanilla paste)

2 1/4 cups (360g) all-purpose flour (1/2 = 180g)

2/3 cup granulated sugar (1/2 = 75g caster sugar - this sweetness is just right for us.)

1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (1/2 = 125g)

1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam or 1/3 cup other thick jam (used adequate homemade strawberry jam)

powdered sugar, for dusting (optional and I prefer not to do this!)

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Have ready 2 ungreased baking sheets or miniature muffin pans and, if desired about 5 dozen miniature paper muffin liners. - I did this after the dough was chilled.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together, set aside.

In a food processor, combine the flour and granulated sugar. Process briefly to blend. With the machine running, add the butter 2-3 pieces at a time and process until the mixture looks crumbly. With the machine still running, add the egg yolk mixture and process until blended and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Instead of using food processor, I used my fingertips to rub the butter into the flour mixture to form a crumbly mixture. After adding the egg yolk mixture, I gathered the crumbs together to form a dough.

Turn dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and shape or roll it into a flat disk. Wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hr.

With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into 3/4 inch (2 cm) balls. Place each ball in a paper liner, if using. Place the cookies 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart on the baking sheets or in the muffin pans.

Using the end of a wooden spoon handle dipped in flour to prevent sticking, make an indentation in the center of each cookie, but do not press all the way through the dough. Using a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, fill each indentation with about 1/4 tsp jam.

I have shaped the cookies using two methods: 1) the ball and mini muffin pan one as mentioned above 2) roll dough into 2.5 cm thick and used cookie cutters to cut the rolled dough into shapes accordingly. Fill jam in the middle of each cut cookie.

Bake the cookies until the edges are golden, 15-20 mins (Mine is 18 mins). Let the cookies cool completely in the pans on wire racks. If baking on sheets without paper liners, use a thin spatula to loose the cookies carefully while they are still warm. Transfer the cooled cookies to wire racks and dust with powdered sugar, if desired - I didn't do this because I didn't want to cover the sparkling part of my cookies with icing sugar! LOL!

Happy Baking