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Red jam and crumbly cookies? Now we talking. This recipe for Heart Cookies with Spiced Cherry Jam makes the perfect jam sandwich cookie. These heart cookies ride the line between a shortbread and a sugar cookie, the best of both in my opinion! These cookies are sandwiched together with cinnamon and clove spiced cherry jam that makes them feel extra special.
I know that the idea of making your own jam for these heart cookies can be a little daunting but this recipe will walk you through the steps.
What is Homemade Jam Made From?
This homemade spiced cherry jam is made from simple ingredients. These include sugar, water, lemon juice, and a whole lot of pitted cherries! This recipe also uses cinnamon sticks and cloves to spice the jam.
How to Make Homemade Spiced Cherry Jam without Pectin
This recipe for homemade spiced cherry jam does not require pectin. I have made countless jars of jam and not once have I added pectin. Cherries do contain a small amount of pectin in comparison to citrus fruits and apples, but if you follow the instructions below you won’t need to source this elusive ingredient.
Jams without added pectin do need to be cooked for longer on the stovetop to reach the jelling point. But the end result is just as delicious as if you had added pectin. This easy jam recipe adds lemon juice to prevent the jam from crystalizing.
How to Make Cherry Jam, Step by Step
Making jam does take time. You have to be patient with the process and allow the jam to reach the right consistency with time rather than a super-hot stovetop.
This recipe consists of distinct steps to follow, these include
- Pitting and halving the cherries
- Adding the cherries, sugar and water to a pot set over medium heat
- Allowing the jam mixture to boil slowly for about one hour until the jam is at the right consistency, while removing the jam scum from the surface if necessary
- Testing for jelling
- Sterilizing and filling jam jars
How to Know when Jam is Set?
The best way to ensure that your jam is ready and set is by using the cold plate test. You perform this test by placing a spoonful of jam onto a cold plate and placing this plate into the freezer. Check the jam after about 3 minutes to see if the jam has formed a skin. If a skin has formed the jam is ready. If not, keep cooking and reducing the jam.
If you run your finger through the centre of the jam on the plate, the two halves should stay separate and not run together. This is when the jam is set.
How to Make Jam Safely
There are two considerations when it comes to making jams safely. The first is to ensure your jam jars are properly sterilized. The second is to ensure that you have heated the jam to the setting point, as explained above.
How to Sterilize Jam Jars
My preferred way to sterilize jam jars is to wash them in hot water with dishwashing soap and allow them to air dry. I then preheat my oven to 200C and place the glass jars in the oven for 15 minutes. For the lids of the jam jars, place them in a pot of boiling water and allow them to boil for 15 minutes, remove them from the water, and then air dry.
Once your jars are sterilized and have cooled, fill and seal with your slightly cooled jam. Between the rim of the jar and the jar lid, I place a small square of baking paper that I have dipped in brandy. The alcohol ensures that nothing unwanted starts growing!
How Long Can You Keep Homemade Jam?
After I have made the jam, I place all of the jars in the fridge, keeping them and enjoying them over the next three months. If you don’t follow this recipe and decide to use less sugar please note that this will affect the shelf life of your jam.
Tips for Making the Perfect Homemade Jam
- Do not stir your jam unnecessarily
- Stir only with a wooden spoon to ensure that the jam is not sticking to the bottom of the pot
- Sterilize your jars properly
- Do not have the pot set over to high a heat, overwise the sugar will turn dark and start to burn resulting in a dark-coloured jam with a very strong caramel flavour
- Remove the jam scum towards the end of the process, so as to not lose too much of the jam
- Do not leave your jam unattended as things can quickly change
- Make sure you have done the cold-plate test before deciding if your jam is set
Now for the easy part, the heart cookies!
How to Make Heart Cookies with Spiced Cherry Jam
The process for making jam sandwich heart cookies is pretty simple. The cookies are started off by creaming the butter and sugar together. This is done with the help of an electric mixer and paddle attachment. The butter shouldn’t be straight from the fridge, nor should it be at room temperature. A happy medium between the two is best for this recipe.
Once creamed, the egg, followed by the yolk is added. Whenever adding eggs be sure to wait between each addition and scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. This ensures that the mixture is beating evenly. Continue mixing at medium to high speed. This is done so that the butter and the eggs can emulsify properly before the dry ingredients are added.
The vanilla and flour are then added to the cookie mixture. At this stage keep a keen eye on this mixture and stop the motor from running once the cookie mixture comes together. Do not over mix the cookie dough. Shape the dough into a flat disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate the heart cookie dough for about an hour.
The main reason why the dough rests is that chilled dough is much easier to handle and shape than dough that comes straight from the mixer. I shape my dough in a flat disc rather than a ball, which makes the heart cookies easier to roll!
Tips for Making the Perfect Jam Sandwich Heart Cookies
This is a simple recipe for shortbread style jam sandwich heart cookies but as with most baking recipes, there are a few things you can watch out for.
- Use an oven thermometer to accurately set the temperature of the oven. Cookies are very sensitive to high temperatures. And to avoid burnt on the bottom and raw on the top cookies make sure you have set your oven correctly.
- Prepare the oven trays properly before placing the cookies onto the trays. Use quality baking paper to ensure that the cookies do not stick to the pan.
- Do not over mix the cookies at the creaming stage. You want the sugar and butter to be well mixed, but not overmixed. Meaning that you don’t want the butter to appear to be splitting or separating.
- Once the flour is added, keep an eye on the mixture to ensure that it does not overmix. You want to stop the mixture just as the dough comes together but not so soon that there are dry crumbly bits at the bottom of the bowl.
- Roll out your dough on a floured surface, this helps the dough from sticking. Flip the dough often when rolling. This ensures that both sides are floured and that you are rolling out the dough evenly.
- If your dough is sticky and hard to work with, put it back in the fridge to firm up
- When placing the cookies on the baking sheets be sure to space them properly. If they are too close together, they might bake into each other.
- Wait for the cookies to cool down before filling them with jam. If the cookies are too hot the jam will become runny and mess out the sides of the jam sandwich heart cookies.
How to Roll and Cut Heart Cookies
My preferred way to roll out cookie dough for these heart cookies is on a large floured cutting board. If you do not have a cutting board large enough, then clean and flour your kitchen counter. Flour the top of the dough as well as the rolling pin and press lightly on the dough with the rolling pin rolling upwards. If at any stage the dough becomes hard to handle, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it back in the fridge. It is much easier to shape the perfect jam sandwich cookie with well-behaved chilled cookie dough.
To cut the heart cookies, you will need two cookies cutters. One round cutter and one smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter. The bottom cookie will be a solid round and the top cookie for the jam sandwich will have the centre cut out with the heart cutter.
Ingredients Needed for Heart Cookies with Spiced Cherry Jam
This recipe for shortbread-style heart cookies uses fresh, easy-to-find ingredients! The ingredients you need for this recipe are
- Unsalted Butter
- Cake Flour
- Castor Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Jam (either homemade, or bought)
This recipe for Heart Cookies with Spiced Cherry Jam is one of my favourites. If you aren’t yet ready to tackle making your own jam then use some from your kitchen cupboard! If you are brave enough to give it a try, remember if you have any left-over jam, you can use it for cupcake frostings, as a thick layer in between cake layers, swirl it in ice cream or fill homemade doughnuts!
Love cookies? Try these Jam Sandwich Cookies with Homemade ClemenGold Jam or these Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies.
Let me know if you give this recipe a try by commenting below or tagging me in your creations on Instagram!
Happy Baking
With Love,
Kitty
📖 Recipe
Heart Cookies with Homemade Spiced Cherry Jam
Cookies and homemade jam? The perfect afternoon treat.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr
Course Cookies
Servings 25 cookies
Ingredients
Spiced Cherry Jam
- 900 grams cherries, pitted and halved
- 900 grams granulated sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 1 star anise
- ½ lemon, rind
- ½ orange, rind
- 2 lemons juiced
Heart Cookies
- 200 grams unsalted butter
- 100 grams castor sugar
- 350 grams cake flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- icing sugar, for dusting
Instructions
Spiced Cherry Jam
Half and pit all the cherries, you will need about 1kg of fresh cherries to make 900 grams.
Place the cherries, sugar, rinds, lemon juice, and spices in a medium-sized pot set over medium heat. Allow the sugar to melt and the cherries to release their juice.
Allow the mixture to come to a boil without stirring. Do not increase the temperature of the stove.
With the jam at a rolling boil, use a wooden spoon to ensure the jam is not catching at the bottom of the pot. With the spoon remove any jam scum from the surface of the jam and discard.
At this point, you can use the wooden spoon to break up the pieces of cherries, if you prefer the cherry jam to be less chunky.
Once the jam starts to thicken, use the cold plate test to decide if the jam has been cooked for long enough. If the jam is still too runny, continue cooking and perform the test again.
Once the jam is at the right consistency, remove it from the heat. Allow to cool slightly and fill the sterilized jam jars. Allow the jar to cool completely before using it to fill the heart jam sandwich cookies.
Heart Cookies
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. This should take about 5 minutes, scrape down the sides of the bowl often to ensure that the ingredients are mixing evenly.
Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again at medium speed.
Add the egg yolk and mix to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. Continue mixing for a further 2 minutes at high speed until the mixture is emulsified.
Add the vanilla and zest (if using) and mix again.
Add the flour and salt at once and mix until just combined, do not over mix.
Remove the cookie dough from the bowl and wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 160°C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Depending on the size of your cookies you may need to bake the cookies in batches.
On a floured surface, roll out the cookie dough to a thickness of 5mm. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough, remembering to keep the bottom cookie full and the top cookie with a further cutout to show the jam.
Place the cookies on the baking trays and bake in a preheated oven for about 15minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden in colour.
Once baked, remove the cookies from the oven and allow the cookies to cool. Sandwich the cookies together with jam and lightly dust them with icing sugar. Serve and enjoy! Store the remaining jam in the fridge.
Keyword biscuits, cherry, cookies, easy cookies, homemade jam, jam, jam sandwich cookies
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