Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Real Comfortable Cookies


At Christmas I always stick to a couple of cookie recipes that my recipients of cookie tins appreciate and look forward to. For the last few years it has been Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies with Pistachios and Cherry Flavored Cranberries and Jam Thumbprints.

The Mexican cookie recipe came from Bon Appetite in the December 2006 issue. They are made with cake flour and so just melt in your mouth. The Jam Thumbprints recipe came from an episode of the Barefoot Contessa in 2002. They are easy, delicious and pretty to look at.

I also like to try something new each year. I was uninspired however by anything that I read or saw on television until I received my January 2009 issue of Bon Appetite. According to them Peanut Butter is one of the new "it" foods. That is fine with me. I actually try not to keep it in my house because I like it so much. So anyhoo, tucked inside the covers was a recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly Shortbread Wedges.

As you can tell from the picture I was inspired to create these totally fantastic sounding bars and I have been very pleased with the result. First of all they were quite easy to make. I didn't use a spring form pan but just a regular one that I sprayed with Pam. They didn't require nearly as much cooking time as is stated in the recipe. That may have been because I used a different pan type but you might want to check your shortbread after 20 minutes or so.

The resulting bars taste like the best peanut butter cookie you ever had dipped in jam. Not a bad thing in my opinion. In the future I will spread the jam a bit thicker on the crust for a bigger burst of flavor. So far the reviews of these cookies have been great so go ahead and give them a try. Just click on the link for the recipe.

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