Jelly Twinkles

These are some of my all-time favorite Christmas cookies:  Jelly Twinkles

When I was little, my Mom baked a ton of Christmas cookies.  She didn’t really bake much the rest of the year (other than an occasional batch of Toll House Cookies or a boxed layer cake), but for Christmas she always went all out and baked a good variety of cookies.  I specifically remember the sugar cookies.  We cut out all kinds of Christmas shapes and my brother and sisters and I were allowed to decorate them with festive sprinkles or colored icing however we wanted.  Her other standards for Christmas were Bake and Slice Chocolate Swirls, Fudge Nut Layer Bars, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Butter Dream Cookies and Holiday Nuggets.  And then there were these… my favorite:  Jelly Twinkles.  They’re crisp, buttery cookies with red currant jelly sandwiched in between and then they’re dusted with powdered sugar.

They’re a very simple cookie with a short list of ingredients: butter, flour, sugar, currant jelly and powdered sugar.

Everything but the powdered sugar and jelly is mixed together and kneaded together until it comes together in a nice, solid dough ball.

After a brief stay in the fridge to chill-out, the dough is rolled out and cut into rounds.  The top layer of the cookie round is cut in the center (a plain circle or a decorative cut).  Into the oven the go…

Red currant jelly is spread onto the bottom layer of the cookie, then it’s topped with the 2nd layer and dusted w/ powdered sugar.  After a while, the powdered sugar that has landed on the jelly soaks in a bit so the decorative jelly cut-out part is more prominent.

And that’s it-  one of my favorite childhood Christmas cookies.  Mom wasn’t a recipe developer, so she definitely got this recipe from somewhere.  Maybe you’ve seen it before.  In any case, all of these years later… I still love them!

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Jelly Twinkles

By RecipeGirl.com

A holiday classic, Mom always made them as I was growing up!

Prep: 45 minutes mins

Cook: 12 minutes mins

Chill Time: 1 hour hr

Total: 1 hour hr 57 minutes mins

Servings: 24 cookies (1 per serving)

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• ▢ ½ cup granulated white sugar
• ▢ 2 cups Gold Medal® All-Purpose Flour, sifted (measure, then sift)
• ▢ ½ cup red currant jelly
• ▢ ¼ cup powdered sugar

Instructions 

• Use an electric mixer to combine the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Stir in the flour, a little at a time, blending well to make a stiff dough. The mixture will be very crumbly for a few minutes until you finally see it coming together in clumps. Remove it to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough together until it comes together nicely in a ball. Wrap in waxed paper and chill until the dough is quite firm.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Roll out half of the chilled dough ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured cloth or mat. Cut out 48 rounds with a 2 inch cutter; cut a small round from the center of half of the cookies. DO NOT roll the dough too thin or the cookies will be too thin and crispy for working with. Thicker is better. Repeat with the 2nd half of the dough.
• Place cutouts ½ inch apart on a cookie sheet. Re-roll trimmings and cut out.
• Bake about 18 minutes, or until firm and lightly golden. Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.
• Spread jelly on each large round; top with cookie ring; sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.

Notes

• If you're not able to locate red currant jelly, you can sub raspberry or strawberry jam. But the red currant jelly is REALLY GOOD, so I recommend looking for it.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 149kcal, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 21mg, Sodium: 66mg, Potassium: 19mg, Fiber: 0.4g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 247IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 5mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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