Blackberry Jam Drops

This morning I was given a little jar of homemade black berry jam nestled in a sweet handprinted tea towel as a belated Christmas gift (thanks Laura!).  I broke it in with peanut butter and jelly toast, it was delicious, but plain ol' pb&j didn't seem like a special enough way to use this treat.  So, this afternoon I whipped up a batch of Blackberry Jam Drops, a recipe adapted from Molly Katzen's butter cookie recipe.

This recipe yields 60 to 72 cookies which is way too many for my small family.  Instead of breaking out the calculator and dividing the recipe, I like to make the whole batch and freeze about half of it.  The basic butter cookie recipe is incredibly malleable; add nuts, chocolate chips, dust with sugar, zest a lemon in it... use your imagination.  It keeps quite well just defrost it in the refrigerator over night before baking.

Blackberry Jam Drops

1 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1 c. sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. all purpose flour

1 pinch salt

1 splash almond extract

1/4 c. blackberry jam

In an electric mixer whip the butter until light.  Cream in the sugar a little bit at a time.  Beat in the egg yolks one at a time then add the vanilla & almond extract.  Gradually add the flour and salt.  Chill the dough for one hour covered in the refrigerator.   When the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 350F.  Roll 1" balls between your palms and place them appx. 1 1/2" apart.  In the center of each ball of dough press a small indention with your thumb.  Add 1/4 tsp. of blackberry jam (or your favorite flavor).  Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  Cool completely on a cooling rack.