Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. parmesan cheese powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly melted
1 cup (8 oz. package) cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup seedless jam
Instructions:
Stir flour, baking soda and parmesan cheese together with fork in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla and cream cheese together with fork in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg and beat well. Gradually mix in flour/dry ingredient mixture.
Chill in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes. Form dough into ping-pong size balls, place onto ungreased baking sheet and flatten into circles about 3/4 inch tall.
Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 6-8 minutes, then slide cookie sheet out of oven and place onto stovetop. With a small spoon, form a thumbprint indentation in the middle of each cookie. Place 1/2 tsp. of jam in the indentation. Slide cookie sheet back into oven and bake until bottoms of cookies are golden brown and edges are slightly crisp, about 4-6 minutes.
(Cool well before eating, the jam is like molten lava when fresh from the oven.)
Makes about 35 cookies.
Options: Can use lemon juice, or almond or rum extract instead of vanilla.
Chocolate-raspberry version: add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp. raspberry Koolaid powder to dry ingredients. Increase sugar to 3/4 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup white. Fill thumbprint with raspberry jam.
