These are delectable little cookies. They are sugar cookies built on a cream cheese base recipe. The almond and powdered sugar will remind you of wedding cookies or almond crescents. Though this is a fancy cookie recipe, the dough goes together simply and quickly.

This recipe calls for marionberry jam and the combination of marionberry jam, cream cheese, and almond is delightful but any smooth, spreadable jam or jelly will do.

Marionberry Cream Cheese Tarts Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
1 eight-ounce package of cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon. baking soda
powdered sugar for dusting
a smooth marionberry jam or jelly for filling, about 4 ounces

Directions

1. Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the extract.

2. In another bowl, mix the flour and baking soda together. In two or three additions, mix the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Refrigerate the dough for an hour or more.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. On a floured counter, roll the dough to about 3/16-inch thick. Cut with three inch cookie cutters into the shapes of your choice. In half of the cookies, cut one holes in the center. Bake for nine to ten minutes on greased sheets. The edges should no more than just barely start to turn brown. Cool on wire racks.

4. After the cookies have cooled, dust the cookies with the holes in the centers with powdered sugar. Use a fine mesh sieve to get an even, attractive dusting.

5. Match up cookies, ones without holes for the bottom halves and ones with holes for the top halves. Invert the cookies and place a half teaspoon of jam or jelly in the center of the bottom cookies so that when pressed together, the cookies are back to back. Smear the jam around the center of the cookie and press the two halves together. It will not take much jam to finish the cookies and too much jam will squish out the sides.