Star Shaped Jam Cookies Food

FILLED STAR COOKIES

Steps:

• BEAT shortening, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer until blended. Beat in egg yolks and orange juice. Combine flour and salt. Mix in gradually until dough is soft. Add more flour if needed. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
• HEAT oven to 350 degrees F.
• ROLL out half of chilled dough at a time to about 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut using a star cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Cut out centers of half the stars using a small round cutter. Repeat with remaining dough. Keep chilled until ready to use.
• BAKE 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute. Place on cooling racks to cool completely. Spread whole stars with preserves. Place stars with centers cut out on top. Sift with powdered sugar.

FINNISH STAR COOKIES (JOULUTORTTU)

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Add sugar and lemon zest and continue to beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add 1 egg and beat until combined. Beat in flour mixture on low speed until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a square, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove one-half of dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured sheet of parchment, roll out dough into a square about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out squares using a 3 1/2-inch square cutter, then carefully transfer to prepared baking sheets, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart. If dough becomes too soft, transfer parchment with dough to a baking sheet and refrigerate until firm.
• Place 1 teaspoon preserves in the center of each square. Using a small paring knife, cut 1 1/4-inch slits diagonally from each corner toward the filling. Fold every other tip over to cover filling, forming a pinwheel. Press lightly to seal. If dough becomes soft, refrigerate until firm.
• Lightly beat remaining egg with remaining pinch of salt. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush tops of cookies with egg wash. Bake until edges are golden and cookies are slightly puffed, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

STAR-SHAPED JAM COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat cream cheese, butter, granulated sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually add flour, mixing well after each addition. Refrigerate 30 min.
• Heat oven to 350ºF. Place dough on floured surface; roll out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 72 shapes, using 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, rerolling scraps as necessary. Use small star-shaped cookie cutter to cut small star-shaped piece out of center of each of 36 cutouts. Discard removed centers.
• Place cutouts, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets.
• Bake 10 to 12 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 3 min. on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Spoon 1/2 tsp. jam onto center of each whole cookie; cover with cut-out cookie. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

RASPBERRY STAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Dough will be stiff. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into star shapes using a cookie cutter. Set cookies 1 inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Place a teaspoon of jam onto each cookie and spread out towards the points of the stars. Roll out remaining half of the dough and cut into stars the same size. cut holes in the center of each star, then place them onto the jam stars.
• Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden around the edges. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. In a small bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar and almond extract to form a glaze. Add water a teaspoon at a time if the mixture is too thick to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over cooled cookies.

THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• For the shortcrust pastry, sift the flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the vanilla sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it is incorporated and then mix in egg yolks. Knead everything into a compact smooth dough. Wrap the dough and chill it for 1 hour.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature for 10 minutes. Form the dough into a long roll and divide it into 60 equal portions. Form a small ball from each portion and place it on a baking sheet covered with baking parchment (you will need two or more sheets). Press a dip (for the jam) into each ball with the handle of a wooden spoon.
• Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Heat the jelly or jam in a saucepan until it melts. Use a teaspoon to fill the dips in the dough balls.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, then allow to cool completely. Finally, dust the cookies with some icing sugar. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks.

JAMMY STAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Blitz the butter, flour and a pinch of salt in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and blitz again. Add the vanilla and egg yolk and blend until balls of dough have formed. Tip the dough onto a work surface and knead briefly to make a smooth ball. Cut into two equal pieces, pat them into discs, then wrap and chill for at least 30 mins. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
• Remove the dough from the fridge 15 mins before you roll it out. Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Unwrap 1 piece of dough and roll it out to the thickness of a 50p coin. Use a 6cm star cutter to stamp out stars (you should get about 15) and transfer to a baking sheet.
• Unwrap and roll out the other piece of dough. Stamp out 15 more stars and transfer to the second baking sheet. Stamp holes from the middle of 15 of the biscuits using the smaller cutter. Cover and chill for 15 mins. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Bake for 10-15 mins (the stars with a hole need less time), cool for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the filling. Whisk the butter, sugar and 50g of the jam with an electric whisk. Transfer to a piping bag with a small round nozzle, or snip off the end to make a ½cm opening. Put the remaining jam in another piping bag and snip off the end to make a slightly smaller hole.
• Pipe blobs of the filling around the edge of each whole biscuit, leaving a space in the centre. Fill the space with jam, then sandwich a biscuit with a hole cut out on top of each one. Will keep in an airtight container for up to three days.