Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies
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These beautiful melt-in-your-mouth Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies are filled with sweet fruit jam.
They’re the kind of cookie that will look fabulous on your holiday treat platters. Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies are a pretty surprise for a cookie exchange party too.
Everyone loves how these cookies look, and they happen to taste really good too! The cream cheese in the cookie dough gives them a lovely, tender texture. This recipe comes from an old Martha Stewart recipe!
How to make Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies:
After the dough is mixed, it’s shaped into three flattened disks and wrapped in plastic wrap. The disks are refrigerated for about 20 minutes, giving the dough a chance to become firm.
Next, the dough is rolled out onto a floured surface. You’ll use a 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter to cut star shapes from the dough. Jam is then spooned into the center of each star. To make them look so pretty, the points of the star are then folded in to the middle of each star.
Finally, you’ll brush an egg wash over the top of the closed star and then take a toothpick to prick the center of the cookie several times to seal the center. Chunky white sugar is sprinkled on top before baking these cookies.
Helpful tips for baking success:
- Chilling the dough is important. If it’s not firm, it will not be easy to roll and cutting the shapes will be difficult. Take time to chill!
- If you have any trouble with the cookie cutter sticking, dip it in flour before cutting.
- Be sure to take the time to seal the centers with a toothpick. You don’t want the centers of your cookies opening up while baking.
- Use two different kinds of jam for displaying a pretty variation. I like to use seedless raspberry or blackberry jam and apricot jam.
If you’re looking for more pretty Christmas cookie recipes, try baking Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies or these Blackberry Sage Thumbprints. Peppermint Surprise Crinkle Cookies are a good holiday cookie for chocolate lovers. And Mexican Wedding Cookies are a must-make every Christmas.
Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1½ cups jam (can use jelly or preserves)
- chunky white sugar, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the flour, salt and vanilla; beat until combined (do not overmix).
- Divide the dough into 3 portions; flatten each into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap; refrigerate 20 minutes. (To store, wrap in plastic and freeze up to 2 weeks. Thaw until pliable before using.)
- Preheat oven to 375℉., with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix the egg yolk with ½ teaspoon of water. Work with 1 disk of dough at a time, and roll out the dough on a floured surface to ⅛-inch thickness. With a 2-inch star cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. Spoon ½ teaspoon of jam into the center of each. Shape the cookies by folding the points of the star into the center. Brush each cookie with egg wash and use a toothpick to press several times into the center of the cookie to secure the middle. Don't bake the cookies with toothpicks in the middle. Sprinkle chunky white sugar on top. Arrange the cookies 2 inches apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets and refrigerate the assembled cookies for 20 minutes (re-roll the scraps and needed, and repeat with the remaining disks of dough).
- Bake the chilled cookies until they are light golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks. (To store, cover and keep at room temperature, up to 4 days.)
wondering how cream cheese filling or nut filling like you use for Kolache would work for these.
I think you’d have to experiment to see.
I ordered the star cookie cutter from your link. Planning on making these for my cookie exchange. Is that cookie cutter big enough? Looks like I’ll have very very small cookies. Pam
They are very small cookies!
When do you add the vanilla? Thank you
Along with the flour and salt.
Can you freeze these cookies already baked, or just freeze the raw dough
Yes, you can. They’re not quite as sturdy as typical cookies that you can easily freeze. So be sure to separate the layers with waxed paper.