Fresh strawberries are the keywords for Valentine's Day Cookies. If you look up strawberry desserts, you will find many cream cheese and strawberry combinations. So this was a natural pairing of flavors. I like to make my cookies from scratch, but not sure I am ready to make cream cheese. I am a Philia cream cheese kind of girl, but if you would like to learn how to make your own, I found this site for making homemade Cream Cheese.
Strawberry jam is delicious but add a piece of sugared fresh strawberry to the top of the jam, and it is such a great combo. Mix this with cream cheese, and you will love this cookie.
Ingredients You Will Need
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese
- 2 sticks Butter unsalted
- 1 cup Sugar white 198 g
- 2-½ cups All-purpose flour 300 g
- ½ cup Strawberry preserves
- 10-12 Fresh strawberries cut in small pieces
- 2 Tablespoon White Sparkling sugar
Making Thumbprint Cookies
The first thing you want to do is clean and cut your strawberries into small enough pieces so that one will fit on top of each finished baked cookie. Then, put these into a strainer or small colander. You want as much liquid out before adding them to the finished cookies.
Using a heaping small cookie scooper of cookie dough, make a ball and place it on the parchment-lined cookie sheet pan. After adding 12 balls to the pan, take your thumb and press down through the top to form a well.
Please be careful that you do not go the whole way through to the bottom. You don't want all the good strawberry jam to run out the bottom. I wiggle my thumb around, so I have a nice size well.
Taking a teaspoon of jam, fill the well. Leave a little room at the top.
You will need it later after the cookies have been baked. Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes. Move to a cooling rack to finish firming up and cool down. Once they have cooled, add a sugared piece of fresh strawberry on top of the jam.
Storage
Fresh fruit tastes so good but it also retains liquid. I did not store these in a container that has a tight-fitting lid. You can just lay the lid on top but do not seal the lid. Depending on how much liquid is still in the fresh strawberries they could make them soggy with the tight lid.
Fresh Strawberries and Jam Cream Cheese Cookies
Barbara HallIngredients
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) Cream Cheese softened
- 1 cup (227 g) Butter unsalted 2 sticks room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) Sugar white
- 2 -½ cups (300 g) All-purpose flour
- ½ cup (170 g) Strawberry preserves
- 10-12 (10-12 ) Fresh strawberries cut in small pieces
- 2 Tablespoon (2 Tablespoon) White Sparkling sugar
Instructions
- In a stand or hand-held mixer on medium speed, blend the butter and cream cheese till light in color and has small peaks. Add the sugar and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until you hear a whipping sound. Scrape down the sides and finish blending. Turn the mixer down and slowly add the flour till incorporated. Using plastic wrap loosely cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- While the cookie dough is in the refrigerator, cut the fresh strawberries into small pieces. I used Wilton white sparkling sugar, but you can use any brand. You can drain them if they start to have to much juice at the bottom of the dish.
- Line your cookie sheet pans with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350°. I used a small cookie scoop that gave me the perfect sized cookies. Scoop it into your hand and roll them into a ball. I put 12 on a pan and put my thumb into the middle of the ball. Don't go the whole way down; you want to make a well for the jam. Take a small spoon or a ¼ teaspoon and fill the hole with the strawberry jam — Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes. If you see the edges getting brown, you may have gone too long. You want the bottoms a light brown color.
- Move cookies to a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool on the rack for about 5 minutes. Take 1 or 2 pieces of the fresh strawberries and place them on top of the jam. Press them into the jam lightly; they will stick completely as the cookies cool. If you like, you can sprinkle more of the white sparkling sugar on top of the strawberries.
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