EASY JAM-FILLED COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs and vanilla, beating until smooth.
• 2. In a separate bowl, mix soda, cream of tarter, salt, and flour. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, blending thoroughly.
• 3. This dough will be very stiff. Roll dough into small balls, no more than one inch in diameter. Place on greased cookie sheets, leaving room for cookies to spread.
• 4. Make impressions in balls with a blunt object and fill each impression with ½ teaspoon of raspberry jam.
• 5. Bake the cookies in a 350°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Leave cookies on the pan for a few minutes after they come out of the oven, before removing them to cooling racks.
• 6. HINTS: There is absolutely nothing wrong with serving irregular looking cookies. Love and cookies bring joy to the recipient, regardless of presentation. However, a tray of uniformly shaped tea treats with exactly the right amount of jam in the very middle is a thing of beauty and brings a sense of pride to the cook. Using a one-inch scoop helps to keep the cookie size uniform. Making the impressions with a blunt object about ½ an inch across allows for consistency. I use the wooden handle that fell off my soup ladle to make impressions in my cookies. Measuring the jam is always better than guessing at the desired amount. I think these cookies look like little wreaths.