Klotchky Cookies
("Jam-filled cream-cheese cookies" from Everyday Food Magazine)
Makes 48. Prep time: 45 min. Total Time: 1.5 hr + chilling
- 8 oz bar cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 C sugar
- 2 C all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 C jam, jelly, or preserves (I didn't measure this out, just scooped portions out of the jar)
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer (I used my stand mixer), beat cream cheese, butter, and sugar, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add flour and salt. Beat until combined (but don't overmix!).
Divide dough into 3 portions. Flatten each into a disk. Roll each disk to a 1/8 inch thickness between sheets of parchment. Stack dough (still in parchment) on a baking sheet; refridgerate 20 min.
Preheat oven to 375F. Mix egg yolk with 1/2 tsp water. Working with the dough 1 sheet at a time, peel off top sheet of parchment (save for baking!). With a 2" round, or 2" star cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Spoon 1/2 tsp jam into the center of each, and brush exposed edges with egg wash. Shape cookies, and arrange 2" apart on two parchment lined baking sheets (mine didn't spread at all, so I went about 1" apart) and refridgerate 20 minutes (I did no such thing. Into the oven they went!). Before baking I brushed the tops with egg wash and sprinkled with plain sugar.
Bake until cookies are light golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks. To store, cover and keep at room temperature up to four days.
Okay, so as you can see above, I used the star cookie cutter method. Below is what the end product looked like:
Aren't they pretty?! Like little jewels! I used the star method, because as a kid, we always had them from round or square cookies with two sides folded in. These were much prettier, but most likely much more of a pain to get through. It took a while to make sure the edges were together, and even so, some came apart in baking (what a bummer! I get to eat the mess-ups! haha!). Another thing to note was that 1/2 tsp is a LOT of filling here. Some stars had an extremely hard time closing, and some (as you can see above) overflowed a bit during cooking. Towards the end, I used a tiny bit less, and pressed my thumb into the middle of my stars to give the jam a little more room.
These were SO good, though. I'm actually thinking about making more, since I have all of the ingredients. But onward we go!! Up next are the horn cookies! Stay tuned!....
