Fruit-Filled Thimbles

I love these because I've made them in so many flavors.  I've used apricot preserves, lemon curd, raspberry preserves, and strawberry jam. I imagine orange marmalade would work as well, or any sort of sturdy, jellied fruit.  Perhaps even a pie filling.  These are a delicious shortbread style cookie that provides a great base to present the fruit flavors.  It's a softer version of shortbread. You could also experiment with extract and jam combinations for a really great treat.

Another recipe from the Capital Cookies cookbook, this one comes from Connecticut, submitted by Mary Mullen who shared these cookies with her church.  The only adjustment I've made is to the process, kneading the flour in by hand to get the dough to form without being crumbly (a common occurrence with shortbread).

Fruit-Filled Thimbles

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
fruit jam or preserves of your choosing (I made this batch with apricot preserves and raspberry jam)

Cream butter and margarine together.  Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla and combine.

If using a stand mixer, switch to your dough hook attachment and add flour, stirring just until flour is gently mixed in. If doing this with a hand mixer, add the flour and stir as much of the flour as you can with a wooden spoon.  When it starts to look crumbly, stop.

Start kneading the dough with your hands, working it until the flour is incorporated and you have a slightly soft dough.  It will be a slightly crumbly, but should come together easily if you make a small ball.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls.  On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, arrange balls about 2 inches apart. With the tip of your middle finger, gently make an indentation on the top of each cooking, being careful not to press to hard and cause the cookie to split. If it does, just reshape it into a ball and try again.

Fill the indentation with jam.

Bake at 350 degrees F until just browned, about 15 minutes.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on pans and then move to wire rack to complete cooling.

Makes 5 1/2 dozen.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess