I need this recipe in my back pocket. It’s the recipe that tricks everyone into thinking that I’m the girl with a constant supply of eggs, flour, butter and every other baking necessity constantly on hand. In reality, I often only have one egg in the fridge, and just enough butter to have to take an trip to the store.
Don’t believe me? Would I lie? Um… no.
Here’s one thing I do fib about: sleeping. I just woke up from a nap. I have sleepy nap time marks on my face… totally undeniable napping has just occurred. If you were to ask me if I just woke up from a nap, I would deny it up and down. I dunno… just a little weirdness from Joy the Baker. I prefer to think of the white lie as somehow charming, and the sleep marked face as evidence of a guilty but of so indulgent afternoon.
Enough about napping. Go check your fridge for that lone egg and stick of butter, and you must have a bit of jam in there too!
Cookies… maybe even Valentine’s Day cookies. Let’s keep it simple.
Buttery Jam Cookies
Simple and sweet. When you’re down to your last egg, this recipe is a dream come true. If you don’t have ground ginger on hand, you can skip it, or add something like cinnamon or a few drops of almond extract. For jam flavors, use any good thick jam you have on hand.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cups sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup of cherry preserves, or any thick jam you have on hand
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fit with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar and beat for a minute. Add the egg and beat for 2 minutes more. The mixture will be satiny. Add the milk and vanilla and beat just to combine. Don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled, it will even out shortly. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the jam and beat for 1 minute more. With the mixer still on low add the dry ingredients and mix only until they are incorporated. You’ll have a very thick dough.
Spoon the dough by the rounded teaspoonfuls into a dish of granulated sugar. Toss to coat and place on a baking sheet, leaving about an inch between the mounds.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies will be only just firm, fairly pale and browned around the edges. Pull the sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, the carefully transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.
Repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.
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{ 58 comments… read them below or add one }
These were an absolute hit with my co-workers! They’re amazingly tasty and such a breeze to throw together…
Yummy yummy :-)!
Those look delicious! I love that you have given tips of what to use in case you don’t have ground ginger. I have ground ginger but I am a sucker for almond extract so I am going to try that instead. Thanx!
I love cherry preserves a lot and what a perfect way to use them! Delicious cookies!
Oh, I am so making this. The cherries count as a serving of fruit, right???
I fib about napping all the time.
These look great. I have homemade strawberry jam and peach jam on hand. I will have to try these.
These look fantastic! I might make them with raspberry preserves…yum!
Yum! I love these types of cookies.
Those look yummy and pretty all rolled into one. I love strawberry jam so i am definitly going to try this recipe. I love your site. I just found it over the weekend.
Haha, the worst is when you have to answer the phone with a groggy voice right after waking up from a nap. Awkward. Love the cookies! I’ve got some awesome jam I can use for these.
I am on it! Dreaming of nap time, waking up & eating these with a nice honeyed orange tea…..
mmm theses look delightful! i love cherries in cookies. i’ll have to give these a shot. thanks!
Basically the perfect recipe. Love this with its one-egg-one-stick-of-butter simplicity. I’ll make it with the best blackberry-raspberry jam made by the sweetest little old lady in my town. She perches at the farmers market every weekend, and she makes the best jam I’ve ever eaten. And now in a cookie? Sublime.
Joy, thanks for giving us the sub on the ground ginger. I never know what I can use to “cheat” on baking recipes. I prefer the almond extract any day. This has to be the best way to consume jam I’ve ever seen!
marvelous and adorable. thanks for another smash, Joy!
cheers,
*heather*
These are delicious! I made them tonight and they came out perfect. Thanks for the great directions.
your pictures and descriptions always make me so happy (and hungry)! your cookies turned out beautifully; they look like the perfect, delicately delicious treat!
YAY! I was seriously looking for a jam recipe the other day and I am so happy you posted this :) Thanks so much!
Ye, gods! You are killing me with these cookies! I. Must. Have. Them. Now.
Yum. Yum. Yum. :)
I do that too – I will fervently deny that any napping has taken place, even if someone catches me in the act. NO, I wasn’t napping. I was…meditating. With my eyes closed and my mouth open. Duh.
Now I’m seriously considering baking cookies. Or maybe I’ll just go meditate for a while before I’m due at work.
Your picture looks so fab & so does these cookies,yum yum:)!!
I always have raspberry jam in the fridge, so maybe I will try that! Does it matter what kind of milk you use for a cookie like this?
I am soo making these, Joy. I love jam and I think that cherry would be a smart choice here. They look super good!
Oh, I’ve got jam! It’s good to have a recipe like this for hard times, when you are so snowed in you can’t get out for groceries. This has happened more than once this winter.
Those sounds and looks good! Love it that it can go with any jam. Would love to try it with fig jam. yum!
Hooray! I’m always looking for recipes that use little bits & pieces… and using that homemade strawberry jam would be trés yummy! I can’t wait to try it :)
mmmm So good! there were a million other things I was supposed to be doing last night but I couldn’t resist making a batch of these. I had to use soy milk because I was out of regular and I used Huckleberry Jam which gave the cookies a pretty purple color. Delicious! I ate too many that for sure and had to go give some to my neighbor so I wouldn’t eat them all!
They look yummmy – the type of cookie which is impossible to just have one of… :D .
I think these would be eaten in no time in my house. They are beautiful.
I need to make these for my mom, she loves the Trader Joe’s cherry preserves!
what a nice treat. these look delicious and so nice :)
Funny how the need to bake always comes up when there’s nothing in the pantry/fridge. This recipe is perfect for those times!
Mmm naps. I was going to nap, but I decided to make these cookies instead. My family will thank me later. Their hips will not.
Look so good…must be so bad….for my hips, thighs, butt.
Napping is delicious. Don’t feel bad about the naps…I read an article that people that nap live longer. Probably because we have less stress. From all the napping.
WOW – they are awesome – they smell even better.
The boys will appreciate them after hockey.Thanks so much.
Oh my, this was a very dangerous recipe. Dangerous because I can’t stop eating the cookies!
Delicious, and super easy. Thanks for posting!
Perfect V-day Cookies! I think I will try them with raspberry jam! Thanks for the recipe!
I. Want. These remind me of a recipe my mom used to make, but (shh) yours look even better.
Thank you! I have fallen in love with your website. I will be making these on Valentines Day with raspberry jam. Oh, and I always wake up from my naps on the couch when I hear my husband walking down the hall, then I try to pretend I haven’t been napping. It never works. Thanks again!
I have all these ingredients on hand right now. What a great recipe. Simple with no ‘fancy-schmancy’ exotic ingredients. Thanks!
I just made these and they didn’t flatten out while baking. Any idea why?
this looks perfect! i LOVE cherry jam (bonne maman is my staple in sour cherry) and i’ve got everything to make these. yum.
These look really good. And I know what you mean about people thinking you are fully stocked all of the time. Don’t they know that if you turn out beautiful baked goods like these cookies you have to use up some of that butter, flour and sugar.
Delicious. Simply delicious.
Excellent. Try adding chopped white chocolate as well- it works great! And how about some chopped pecans or almonds?
I was so excited to make these. alas, though they were tasty, mine didn’t spread properly, either. yours were so beautiful, joy–they look like they spread the way the nestle toll house cookies spread. mine, however, turned out like little lumps … any thoughts on what I might have done wrong?
These look soooo delicious. I am going to try these out over the weekend. That is if I find cherry preserves – I don’t think I’ve ever seen them on the shelf before. :::fingers crossed::: Keep up the great work with all your photos, I wish the photos on my blog looked half as good as yours!
haha. i had to comment when i read about the sleeping lie. it’s crazy but i do the exact same thing! it’s nice to know that i’m not alone in my weirdness. by the way, your cookies look delicious and i’ve enjoyed reading your blog.
I ADORE cherry jam! Thanks for helping me find yet another way to cram another serving in! :)
Mine also didn’t spread correctly. I used a silpat instead of greasing, but I almost always do that with cookies and have never had this problem before. Please let me know if you have any idea what happened!
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