Apricot Cream Cheese Cookies: You can teach an old cookie new tricks!

‘Thumbprint Cookies’—that’s official cookie jargon for cookies with directions that are a variation on, “Shape dough into balls; flatten slightly, and indent the center.  Fill with preserves.”  I’ve always had a particular weakness for them.  But I’ve also always noticed a particular weakness in them—there is never enough filling.  So, I long ago dispensed with the thumb approach and went to using a knuckle to hollow out those little centers to a more respectable capacity.

Knuckle cookies?  It doesn’t sound so nice and dainty as ‘Thumbprint’, does it? But that’s okay, because I’ve figured out what I’ve really been trying to achieve all this time, and there’s a term for it: ‘Tarts’.

Okay, perhaps I exaggerate.  But only slightly.

I can't be the only one who's ever looked at these and thought, "Needs more jelly!"

While these are one of my favorite cookies to eat, it must be said, they have never been one of my favorite cookies to make.  The dough needs to be chilled, and shaped quickly while it’s cold, like pastry dough (exaggeration aside, these really are something of a cross between a tart and a cookie).  It sticks to hands and fingers quite readily—the more so as it warms.  Using the roll-into-a-ball approach, I’d always end up with both hands thickly coated in cookie dough to the tips of my fingers.

The dough is also prone to developing cracks as you shape it, which then need to be smooshed back together.  Positioning the balls of dough on a sheet and then attempting to shape them (as the recipe says to do it) always turned into a bit of a wrestling match.  But, but, Apricot! Cream cheese! Citrus zest!  So I’d always persevere (though I did usually cut the recipe in half, just to keep from using up all my patience right into the New Year).

Not this year.  This year, after washing one more coating of cookie dough off of my palms (it is important to do this before one reaches for one’s camera), I wondered why I was shaping them into little balls in the first place—it’s really rather far from my end goal of hollowed-out-shell-to-hold-jelly.  I tried shaping the dough into disks, instead.  This, it turned out, was much easier to do with just the tips of my fingers (I was even able to reserve two clean fingers for shutter duty).  Then, without plunking them down on the cookie sheet first, I shaped the disks into little bowl-shaped shells. I found that shaping them over the knuckle of my index finger worked quite well, and it was easier to prevent cracking this way.

The only drawback is, you do need to work quickly.  The dough handles best when chilled, and holding the dough while shaping it does warm it a bit more quickly than it would on the sheet.  I needed to put the dough back into the fridge between pans, and even in the middle of doing one pan (but that, it must be said, was because I was pausing to photograph as I worked).  Another reason to work quickly is that it’s best to avoid overworking the dough, lest it become tough.  But it didn’t take much practice at all to be able to shape neat little shells, more quickly than I was able to do the old way.

And just look at all that jelly!

Despite starting out as little shells, they do take on a cookie shape as they bake.

Apricot Cream Cheese Cookies

(Unfortunately, I’ve no idea now which book or magazine I wrote down the original recipe from—I’ve had it a long time.)

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. lemon (or orange) juice
2 tsp. lemon (or orange) zest
4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
apricot preserves
confectioner’s sugar (optional)

Cream together butter and cream cheese; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Whisk in eggs, juice and zest.  Combine flour and baking powder; add to cream cheese mixture, stirring until well incorporated.

Chill thoroughly (at least an hour).

Preheat oven to 350°.

Working quickly, scoop up tablespoon-sized pieces of chilled dough and shape into disks a little over an inch in diameter and between 3/8 and 1/2 inch thick; then, form the disks into a bowl-shaped shell.  Place each shell on an ungreased cookie sheet, settling them slightly if the bottoms are too rounded.  Fill each shell with preserves.  Return dough to refrigerator between pans to chill as needed.

Bake for 15 minutes or until bottoms are browned and edges are just barely beginning to color.  Allow to cool slightly before transferring to racks to cool completely.  Sprinkle with powdered (confectioner’s) sugar, if desired.