These cookies may look unassuming, but trust me, they are anything but.
Rich, buttery cookie dough is pressed into mini-muffin liners (or baked on baking sheets) and the tiny indentations are filled with raspberry jam. Finished off with a dusting of powdered sugar, these little beauties are impossible to stop eating.
The dough itself is amazingly delicious and bakes up to be incredibly tender with the perfect amount of crumbly crumb, while still holding together into a beautifully textured butter cookie. The sweet and slightly tart raspberry jam compliments the butter cookie wonderfully and the mini shape is adorable.
I can see this mini butter cookie being the perfect avenue for other fillings, such as chocolate (of course!) and other fruit jams.
Ruby Jewel Cookies
Printable Version
Printable Version with Picture
*Makes about 3 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS:
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
About 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam or other thick jam
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have ready two ungreased baking sheets or mini muffin pans and liners.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together; set aside. Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Scatter the butter pieces over the top of the flour and sugar and with a pastry blender or two forks, work in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk mixture and carefully mix to combine until the dough starts to come together (this worked best using my hands).
Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and shape it into a flat disk. Wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
With lightly floured hands, pinch off pieces of dough and shape the dough into ¾-inch balls. Place each ball in a mini muffin paper liner, if using. If not using a mini muffin pan, place the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
Using the end of a wooden spoon handle dipped in flour, make an indentation in the center of each cookie, but do not press all the way through the dough. Using a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, fill each indentation with about ¼ teaspoon jam.
Bake the cookies until the edges are golden, 15-20 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely on the pans on wire racks. Transfer cooled cookies to wire racks and dust with confectioner’s sugar.
Recipe Source: adapted from Williams-Sonoma Cookies
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
They look absolutely wonderful! My kind of cookie. I would love to try these!
these are just terrific. buttery cookies are a spectacular vehicle for some sweet raspberry jam. what’s more, they’re absolutely beautiful–the name fits perfectly.
Do you grease the baking sheet if you are not using muffin cups?
Just thought you’d like to know that the Pioneer Women mentioned your blog on her website!
Ooo! These look so good! How many did this recipe make?
All of your recipes looks so delicious! Thank you, thank you!
I know this is completely out of place, but I was just wondering if you could tell me about how much chicken and how much chicken stock you put in your crock pot when preparing shredded chicken. I have so many recipes that call for cooked shredded chicken and preparing the chicken is my least favorite part. Your crock pot idea is such a great idea!!! I’m not great with the crock pot so if you could let me know the chicken to liquid ratio I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for all of your WONDERFUL recipes!!!
Alisha – there is enough butter in the recipe so you don’t need to grease the sheets before baking. If you are still nervous about them sticking, just apply a really, really light coat of cooking spray so the bottoms of the cookies aren’t too greasy.
Anonymous – (Lindsay?) – I just responded to similar comment on the baked taquitos recipe but thought I’d include the response here, too. I usually cook about 4-6 frozen chicken breasts in my crockpot with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup chicken broth. I cook them on low for 6-7 hours. Hope that helps!
jjnhubbs – I edited the recipe (thanks for the comment) but this recipe makes about 24 cookies.
I made these a the other day, and they are delicious!!!!! So yummy!! With all these sweets I’m going to gain 10 lbs this holiday!!
do u have to add some cold water to the dough because it is so dry with just butter. i’m assuming that the longer u work the dough with your hands it would get tougher. what’s your take on this please. thanks. the recipes look great!!!!
Murdock Family – so glad these were a hit! And seriously, if it makes you feel any better, I’m right there with you on the ten pounds. Yikes!
Anonymous – no, you don’t need to add any cold water to the dough. It all comes together, although you may have to be patient mixing it all together.
I made these the other day for our baking day. They came out so yummy, but I had a couple hiccups with my experience. I could NOT get the dough to come together. I mixed and mixed with my hands, but it wouldn’t stick. It was so crumbly. I had to add a couple TBS of water to make it come together. It was still pretty crumbly at that point, but at least it stuck together.
Once I shaped them, I was able to make 40 cookies with the 3/4 in. size! I was happy about that
They cracked a bit once they cooked, but nothing too bad. Everyone who at them loved them!
So, what did I do wrong so I had to add water?
Wonderful little cookies and so buttery! I made these last night for the teachers at Mother’s Day Out. I used my wire whisk as a stand in for a pastry blender. I pressed the dough together to help it form. I used the mini muffin tin with liners, but I think I made the balls too big (and it still made more than 24). I’m not sure what the yield might be (maybe closer to 40 like Stacie Aho posted?). I ended up making some cookies on a cookie sheet- they turned out a bit crunchy which was great, too! I need to get a 2nd mini muffin tin for next time so I can stick to the 3/4″ balls. I think they look so dainty in the muffin liners! Loved the raspberry, too!
As always, thanks for another great recipe! Happy holidays!
Stacie – instead of adding water, next time I would just add a bit less flour – decrease the flour by that extra 1/4 cup. Hopefully that will help the dough come together better. I don’t know why it was so crumbly – maybe due to dry vs. humid climate??? I’m glad they made so many – I’ll have to edit the recipe.
Julia – I’m glad you liked these cookies, as well! Thanks for the input on yield, I’ll edit the recipe right away. I agree, they are such a dainty looking cookie and so fun to eat.
Mel, I made these and got 63 cookies from it. I guess my 3/4″ is a little on the dainty side. They are super cute though and yummy too
Thanks again!
I had a hard time working with this dough too. Mine was really dry but I attributed it to the fact that my boys helped measure ingredients and they were probably a little heavy handed with the flour. The flavor, however, was amazing…so good that I’d brave this dough another time just to taste them again, but with a little less flour next time.
Do you think this would it work if you used two thumbprints to make a heart shape on top?
Stephanie – I think that is a really cute idea! The cookies themselves aren’t very big so you might have to make pretty small indentations to get a heart shape, maybe using the side of your thumb or another utensil with a thinner edge.