I had a hankering for filled sugar cookies tonight,
so I dug out my recipe and got busy making them ;-)
I remember these cookies from my childhood; my
mother always filled them with Raisin Filling, which we all liked. Fancier
people filled them with Cherry-Apricot Filling (both filling recipes below).
I cheated and filled my cookies with ready-made Strawberry
Jam :-)
FILLED SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH ~About 2 dozen cookies
1 cup granulated White Sugar * ¾ cup Shortening (part
Butter, softened) * 2 Eggs * 1 teaspoon Vanilla (or ½ teaspoon Lemon Extract) * 2-1/2 cups Flour * 1 teaspoon Baking Powder *
1 teaspoon Salt
Mix sugar, shortening, eggs, and vanilla; stir in
remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
While dough is chilling, prepare your filling …
or do as I did, and simply use a jar of ready-made Strawberry Jam.
==Raisin Filling: 1-3/4 cup Raisins * ¾ cup Water * ½ cup granulated White Sugar *
2 Tablespoons Flour * 1 Tablespoon
Lemon Juice
Heat raisins and water to boiling; reduce heat.
Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Mix sugar and flour – stir into raisin mixture.
Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
Stir in lemon juice and cool.
==Cherry-Apricot Filling: ½ cup granulated
White Sugar * 1 Tablespoon PLUS 1 teaspoon Cornstarch * ½ cup Water * ¼ cup Maraschino Cherry juice * 1/3 cup Maraschino Cherries, chopped * 1/3 cup dried Apricots, cut up
Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Stir in
remaining ingredients; heat to a rolling boil. Boil and stir 1 minute: cool.
INSTRUCTIONS: Heat oven to 400-degrees. Using only
half the dough at a time, cut 48 rounds with doughnut cutter that has the
center removed; then cut out the centers of 24 of the smaller center of the
doughnut cutter.
Place uncut rounds on a lightly greased cookie
sheet; top with filling of your choice – spreading almost to the edges. Top
with remaining rounds so the filling shows through holes of top cookie round:
press edges together with a floured fork and place in oven.
Bake until light brown, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool on wire cookie rack. When cool, enjoy!
