Sour Cream Jam Cookies

You see those ugly things on the right? The ones that aren't even stuck together properly, oozing jam and plain as anything? They're fantastic.

Their not-so-attractive exterior belies their deliciousness, meaning that there's a reward for those who don't judge a book by its cover and get all the deliciousness to themselves. Mind you, they can be very pretty if you make them that way- You can roll up the dough with the filling inside to make swirls, or make sandwiches with two pieces of dough and a pretty cut-out design. You can use powder sugar or raw sugar as a garnish, an egg glaze, whatever. But the bottom line is, they're delicious no matter what.

I like the taste of the sour cream dough with fruity jams, but it also goes very well with some other combinations I've tried, such as:

• 1/4 C. Nougat plus  TBSP ground poppyseed, well mixed and spread on before rolling the dough from either end to the centre and slicing to create poppy-nougat palmiers

• 1/4 C. Grated bittersweet chocolate, 1 TBSP cocoa, 2 TBSP sugar and 1 Tsp. cinnamon, sprinkled onto the rolled-out dough and rolled up into a log, then sliced thinly to form chocolate-cinnamon spirals

• Your favourite marmalade, plus powdered sugar on folded-over half-moon pastries

And so on. The dough isn't hard to make, though the folding and chilling takes some time, but is well worth the flakiness of the final product. Make sure you preheat the oven! You'll lose layers of flakiness if you let the cookies in when it's not hot enough (as I did in the above batch- their sequels made from leftover dough at the proper temperature were much prettier, I'll have you know). 

Sour Cream Jam Cookies
Adapted from about.com

3 C. All purpose flour
1 C. Butter, cold
1/4 C. Vanilla sugar, or regular sugar plus 2 Tsp. Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 C. Sour cream, preferably 18%
About 1 C. Jam, any kind, or another filling (I used strawberry jam)
Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 210℃.

Mix the flour, sugar and salt. In a food processor or with a dough cutter, incorporate the butter until the mixture is crumbly and gravel-like. Add the sour cream and mix until a homogenous mass forms. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and fold in half. Press down flat, rotate 90 degrees and fold in half again. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes. 

Repeat the dough folding above one more time. Roll out the dough again on a floured surface and cut into circles. Add a teaspoon of jam or other filling to the centre of each and press together the edges of the circle to form a small "package". Refrigerate for about 15 minutes once all are finished.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly brown.  Let cool completely, then dust with powder sugar if desired, or leave plain.