Cherry Poppy Seed Twinks

Cherry Poppy Seed Twinks

These were a lot of fun to make.  Mostly, because my 4 year old helped me. First of all, you mix powdered sugar with butter together.  I suggest wearing a scarf over your face for the dust storm that develops.  Once the dust settles, you can mix up the rest of the cookies.  Callie looked at the poppy seeds and asked, "Why are you putting cat litter in the cookies?"  I looked at the jar and had to agree.  It did look just like cat litter.  I had her taste a few in her hand and she slowly spit them back into her hand.  I didn't think she would even try to lick the beaters after that, but she did and she said, "They are so YUMMY!"

Ready for the oven!

The "Twinks" were easy to make and required very few ingredients (see recipe below).  We decided that instead of vanilla, we will try lemon juice next time.  We tried cherry jam in some and raspberry jam in others.  Both were great!  These cookies cook at a lower temp than most cookies and thus require a longer baking time (mine took 18 minutes).  Be careful to bake them all the way thru.  Otherwise, the jelly falls through the cookie (see picture below).  They still taste good, but you loose most the jam.

Ooops!

So far these are my favorite cookie.  All the kids loved them which is quite an accomplishment.  I give a few cookies each week to a friend of mine to get a non-bias opinion.  They are delivered via her son in our car pool.  Ryan stated that his mom may not receive them this week because he may eat them all first.

These get my first 5 out 5 rating!  My outside cookie critic, Mary, gave them a 4.75 out of 5. She gave the shortbread cookies from a couple weeks ago a 5 out of 5 and they are " THE standard by which all other cookies will forever be judged!!!"

Cherry Poppy Seed Twinks

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla (or lemon juice?)

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tblspn poppy seeds

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cherry preserves (other flavors are good too)

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees.  In large bowl, combine powdered sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla (or lemon juice) and egg; blend well.  Add flour, poppy seed and salt; mix well. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

2. With thumb, make imprint in center of each cookie.  Fill each with about 1/2 teaspoon preserves.

3. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.