TWD: Buttery Bread -- Er, Jam Cookies

Although I'm eager to share more of my Malaysia trip, today is Tuesday. And that means . . . Tuesday's with Dorie! This week's recipe challenged me to make Ms. Greenspan's buttery jam cookies (page 80). Scanning the recipe, these cookies appeared simple, calling for basic ingredients that most any kitchen would have on hand such as all-purpose flour, sugar, and, as the name suggests, butter (I used Smart Balance since that's what I had on hand). Also, there was none of that fancy-shmancy dough refrigeration like sugar cookies require, which dampens this baker's immediate gratification-seeking spirit. Nope, I just had to mix all of the ingredients (I used a food processor, which worked fairly well), plop the dough on parchment-lined cookie sheets, and bake away for 1o or so minutes.

The star ingredient of this recipe was, I would wager, the jam. However, I decided to put my own little spin on the fruit idea and use apple butter instead. I really enjoy both apple and pumpkin butter, and thought a fruit butter might add a unique twist to this recipe. Besides, Dorie's recipe calls for ginger, which really complements apples in my own opinion, especially during the winter. Unfortunately, as often happens in my baking adventures, my intuition did not lead to an unequivocal success. I did not account for the decrease in sugar by substituting apple butter for jam, so the cookies tasted a little more savory than sweet. They don't taste bad, though, and would go wonderfully with tea.

I don't think Dorie meant the fully jam-ified cookies to be tooth-rotting sugar traps, anyway. As the Best Husband Ever commented after eating a few, they taste like "really good bread." I'll take that compliment, thank you! These cookies will make a great little surprise for my Secret Santa gift exchange partner tomorrow, as well as some less sugar high-inducing treat for my students during our holiday movie afternoon on Friday.

While we're on the topic of cookies, my neice and respective sister-in-law baked the cutest peppermint cookies for us! They are peppermint-flavored sugar cookies, I think, rolled with two tones of dough and then baked onto the end of sticks to look like roses. Aren't they lovely? And tasty to boot!