Blackberry Jam Filled Butter Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tspns. vanilla extract

1/2 tspn. salt

1/2 cup blackberry preserves

1 cup fresh blackberries

Directions

First things first, we will need to mix up the dough.  It’s good to soften the butter before mixing it with the sugar, and I like to just plop my butter sticks into a microwave safe bowl and nuke them for about 15 seconds.  Put the butter, sugar and eggs into a large mixing bowl and cream together.  This should take about 1 minute with some beaters, or until your arm gets too tired to keep going if you are doing it manually.  Add the vanilla and salt and mix them in. 

To complete the dough, mix in the flour about 1/2 a cup at a time.  Once the dough is soft and workable, put it in the refrigerator for about an hour. 

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 °F.  Scoop out some dough and roll it into a ball about 1 inch in diameter.  If you powder your hands with some extra flour, this step will be much easier. 

Place the cookie ball on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. As you make more cookie balls try to space them a few inches apart on all sides.  I was able to make 15 cookies on each cookie tray in a 3 x 5 grid. 

Use your finger or thumb to make a well in the center of each cookie.  If any cracks form in the edges of the dough you can either leave them or pinch them shut.  Make sure that any cracks aren’t too deep or the filling will spill out and mess up your cookie. 

Fill the holes with preserves.  I have found that the easiest way to do this is to spoon the jam into a ziplock bag.  Squish it around a bit to soften it.  Then cut the bottom corner of the bag off to create a little nozzle.  Now you can neatly squeeze the jam out and feel like a real gourmet pastry chef! 

Bake each tray for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven.  The cookies will get a slight browning along the bottom and the jam will just start to bubble.  These cookies are very easy to over cook so be vigilant!  As soon as you pull them out, plop a fresh blackberry into the center and let the cookies cool.  Since I was making a large batch of them, I just threw each tray into the fridge for about 15 minutes before removing the cookies. 

Recipe Source: http://cookies.fourfightingfoxes.com/fruity-cookies/blackberry-jam-filled-butter-cookies/