If you have been reading my blog posts for a while, you already know how obsessed I am with Sally’s Baking Addiction recipes. So it’s only natural for me to bake from her recipes to impress OAO’s teammates. I made this couple of weeks ago and it was truly delicious.
The original recipe (posted below) used apricot jam, 6 ounces of cream cheese, and 1/2 cup of unsalted butter. I used guava jelly that I bought as a souvenir from Oahu’s duty free shop, 8 ounces of cream cheese since I didn’t want to store the remaining 2 ounces in the fridge, and a little over 1/4 cup of unsalted butter since that’s all I had. Nevertheless, the cookies turned out amazing!
Also fun fact about me — I once pronounced guava as “GUVAVAVA” in grade 1 or 2 and my nickname was “guvavava” for a while. So if you are one of those boys from my elementary school reading this post — HELLO😀
Start by whisking dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt. Set it aside.
In another bowl, beat 8 ounces of room temperature cream cheese until it’s smooth and creamy. Next photo for reference.
To the creamy mixture, add 1/2 cup of room temperature unsalted butter. Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy.
To the beaten mixture, add 1 cup of granulated sugar. Beat the mixture on high speed until creamy. Reference photo below.
Add 1 egg, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp almond extract. Beat again until combined fully.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. I did 1/3 of the dry ingredients at a time to avoid making a mess.
Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and mix well. Cover and chill the combined dough for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 350oF. Line your baking tray with parchment paper. Take the dough out from the refridgerator. On a plate, have some sliced almonds ready. Let’s get to work.
Roll 1 tbsp of dough into a ball and roll each ball in sliced almonds.
Place them on to the baking tray.
Use your thumb to make a dent/space for jelly filling.
TADAAA — tiniest jelly container ^.^
Spoon the jelly into the indent we created. Into the oven it goes for 15 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides.
Fresh out of the oven. So I am a little disappointed the jelly didn’t spread as the cookies baked in the oven. Oh well…
Close up, close enough. Can you smell the deliciousness?
Dust powdered sugar to make it look fancy!
Oh and place flowers on the side to make it look like you have your life together.
These cookies were so soft. Absolutely delicious!
Easy cookies that you can bake without regretting your decision. OAO and his teammates loved it. I hope you give this a try. Sally has listed few variations in her blog post such as Strawberry Pecan, Blackberry Almond, etc…
I think next time I would whisk the jelly a bit to make it runny. This might have helped to spread as the cookies baked in the oven. Also, I have been seeing “Raspberry Lychee Preserves” from Costco on TikTok lately…maybe I will try using that next time :)
Let me know what other jams/preserves/jellies I should try in the comment box.
