EGGLESS JAM COOKIES

Are you a fruit jam lover and collector like me ? There’s something beguiling about the jewel like colours of a beautifully prepared jams sitting on the shelfs beconing us…

Though  falling in the later catogery(more a collector than a eater), everytime while passing the jam storing section of the super markets, cant help adding one or two to our foodcart……till my husband reminds that we already have two….three varieties sitting at home untouched. My favourite is apricot jam ( during my first pregnancy used to eat it straight from the glass jar). Them comes the strawberry,mango,mixed fruit,plum,orange ,fig jam……etc.

Recently while cleaning my kitchen came across these half finished bottles of diffrent jams. And to use up these, googled for jam cokies. But sadly,even with all this healthy eating and the advertising for better health 80% recipes found had oodles of butter and APF.( I know what you may be thinking…..:) my blog too has its share of cakes and desserts. hmm….what can i say, my health concious bug attacks me unexpectedly) . 

Then stumbled upon this simple and (moderatly) healthy recipe,that too eggless. Simple and tasty…..not overly sweet like a dessert ,but good enough to happily munch with tea or as a snack for your kids.

Without making this post too long, just wanted you to know some basics to look while buying commercial jams – what do ”you” look for when selecting the best jam for your money??

Preserving seasonal fruit as jam dates back to Roman times, but surprisingly not much has changed in the way we do it now,even in the modern times.

More surprising still, despite advancements in technology providing us with commercial pectin and sterilising techniques, it seems the best jams are still the ones with a ‘less is more’ kind of attitude. Before World War II, fruit preserve recipes did not include pectin, and many artisan jams today are made without pectin.

While homemade jams and preserves are always the best, we don’t all have the time to make them. Sadly, not all jam is packed with generous quantities of fruit and there are often unwanted additives, too. Some major brands make jams with a high fruit content and natural ingredients. Bonne Maman and Mackays use cane sugar. The excellent Tiptree preserves are also widely available. Extra jam is fruitier, with a minimum of 450g of fruit (except in the case of redcurrants, blackcurrants, rosehips, rowan-berries and quinces). Extra jam is subject to somewhat stricter rules that set higher standards for the minimum fruit content (45% instead of 35% as a general rule, but lower for some fruits such as redcurrants and blackcurrants), as well specifying as the use of unconcentrated fruit pulp, and forbidding the mixture of certain fruits and vegetables with others.

Recipe adapted from pinch my salt

Makes approximately12-14 sandwich cookies.

Baking time:- 10-15 mnts per each batch

INGREDIENTS:-

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal/ pulverized almond/ powdered almond
• 1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1 tsp almond extract
•   jam 1/4 cup or as needed
• Milk – 2 tbsp (if required, optional)

METHOD:-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees . Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk together flour and almond meal then add to butter mixture and blend well. Put cookie dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.On a lightly floured surface, roll out a portion of the dough until quite thin – about the thickness of a thin piece of cardboard – and cut out rounds,heart,stars or any shapes your heart desires(according to your cookie cutters). Divide them into two half. Keep one half without any holes or cuttings. Use a small bottle top, a thimble, or another smaller cookie cutter to cut out circles from the center of half of the cookies. Transfer the cut-out dough to an ungreased baking pan. The rounds can be placed fairly close together, as there will be little expansion or spreading. Gather up the scraps of dough, mold together into a ball, and roll out again. If the dough becomes too soft to handle, return it to the fridge while you work with another portion of dough. Continue rolling and cutting out cookies until all of the dough is used. Once you’ve filled a baking sheet, bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Allow the cookies to a cool for a minute or two on the pan, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Just before serving or to fill the cookies, spread a little jam on the flat side of a solid round, and top with a cookie with a hole.I have used here fig and orange jam. If desired, dust the finished cookies with a little powdered sugar when still warm. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to three months. Iam not sure if the jam filler cookies will be crispier for more days. I just filled the jam just before serving and kept the remaining batch of cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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