Big Grandma's Cookbook: Cream Cheese Cookies with Apricot Jam
03/02/2015
This installment in the Big Grandma's Cookbook series might be my favorite so far. These little cookie gems are what bring back the most memories of my grandmother. She would make these for us as kids on special occasions. When we would eat them, she would eat them too, very daintily with the tips of her fingers. We would have milky, sugary tea in our own special tea cups she kept special for us in the china cabinet. We felt so grown up enjoying the cookies and tea in that fashion.
But then we would devour them like animals once we left her house with our little box of leftovers.
I often wonder if Big Grandma did that, too, once we left. Thoughts like that make me smile.
Some people call these cookies kiffles. But that is a word I had never heard until last Christmas when my mom brought us some cookies that resembled Big Grandma's cream cheese cookies. We all tried them and while they were delicious in their own way, they weren't the same. Nothing could match Big Grandma's recipe.
So when I found her recipe in her little handwritten cookbook, I cried.
I made them and watched as my kids devoured them in the same way my sister and I used to as I ate them daintily with my fingertips just like my beautiful grandma. My cookies weren't nearly as pretty as the ones she used to make, but the taste was spot on.
Cream Cheese Cookies with Apricot Jam
*I had to take some liberties with the recipe as it was not really written with clear instructions. I had to wing it a little bit.*
- 1 lb butter softened
- 1/2 lb cream cheese softened
- 4 Tbsp sugar
- 4 eggs
- 3 -4 cups all purpose flour plus extra for rolling
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 jar apricot jam (or your favorite jam - strawberry is good, but a little sweet)
- 1 beaten egg
Mix butter, cream cheese, sugar, and eggs until smooth. Add baking powder to 3 cups flour and then gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture. You will be rolling out the dough, so if it seems too thin to roll add more flour by the tablespoon until it is thick enough to form a soft dough.
Roll thin (about 1/4 inch) on a floured surface. Cut into 3 inch circles. Fill each circle with a dollop of apricot jam and fold over the edges. Brush each cookie with the beaten egg. Bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes of until they are light golden brown.
Even though you might want to grab one and eat it right off the pan, don't do it! That apricot jam is going to be hot for a good 10 minutes after they come out. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and then enjoy!