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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Swedish Jam Cookies

This recipe for Scandinavian cookies has been in my family for as long as I can remember.  Ironically not from my Norwegian side... but from the German side.  But whatevs, these things are delicious.

Everywhere my mom would take these, or to whomever she would gift them, the praises were long and loud-spoken.

The first time she had them, my wife loved them so much that she insisted we bake a batch or three every year and continue the tradition.

They're really quite a simple cookie, kind of like shortbread, but the kick-in-the-pants comes from the dollop of sweet raspberry jelly.

Which is actually another inconsistency - these should really be called "jelly cookies" because the recipe works best with seedless jelly rather than jam.

But, again, whatevs.

This year, right before the holidays, I got the batter all ready, and chilling, but then had to fly out-of-province unexpectedly, leaving my wife to bake them all on her own (a not entirely small deal for her!)

:)

Anyway, here - as with most baking recipes posted - is the recipe card.  Unlike many recipes from my yore, this one has actually seen surprisingly few tweaks or revisions, and is relatively pure to the original.


Remember that you can enlarge this image - as with all images on this site - simply by clicking on it.

You should also feel totally free to download or print it as well, if you want to save it.




So, because it is all nicely written out, step-by-step, above.  I'll just lump all the images together, in a collage-progression style.  :)

Here, then, is my visual account of making this cookie dough, along with one (slightly poorer) image of the final product at the end.







At this point, I left the dough, covered, in the fridge, and buggered off, fully expecting to deal with it when I got back.

However, the wife surprised me - and shocked the foundations of the earth - by completing the recipe all on her own.

Here is the image she took with her iPhone in order to text it to me while I was away:



Proof of her handiwork, but poor representation (iPhone's fault) of just how amazing these cookies can be!!!

They proved to be a little cagey and elusive as well though, as soon after my arrival home, they were obliterated, and could no longer be found anywhere.

I expect they'll make a return appearance next December.

;)