My grandma’s jam-filled sour cream cookies are tender, flaky, and irresistible. So easy to make, perfect for Holidays or any time of the year. Five ingredients only!!
This is the recipe that reminds me of my childhood, spending weekends and summer school breaks in the country with my grandparents. My grandma was (she is still alive, but she doesn’t cook anymore, she lives in the home for elderly) a great cook I loved everything she cooked and especially what she baked. I have fond memories of her Sour cream jam-filled cookies and her doughnuts. Her doughnuts were ah-mazing! She doesn’t have a written recipe, she has always measured everything with the eye and by touch. And how much I tried I can’t recreate that special doughnut recipe. Oh, what would I give for just one bite of that doughnut !!!
She doesn’t have written recipe for this Sour cream jam-filled cookies either, but I called her the other days and asked how to make that cookie, and she said “one cup sour cream, one cup lard, and flour by touch! By touch?? WTH, how I’m gonna made it by touch. You’ll see, you are a good baker, the dough needs to be soft, but not sticky.”
Now we are going to bake these cookies. Although the recipe calls for lard (and I highly recommend using it, because it gives that fantastic flaky, melt-in-your-mouth texture), I made it with butter, because a lot of people doesn’t eat lard.
You will need sour cream (full fat, I always use the one with 20-25% of fat), really soft (not melted) butter (kind of soft as lard), flour, powdered sugar, and jam. She made it with homemade plum jam, and I always make it that ways, it’s a must, but you can use any kind of jam you like.
In a bowl mix sour cream, lard, or butter and flour until the dough come together. Flour the work surface and knead the dough until smooth. Continue flouring the surface until the dough is not sticky anymore. It should be soft but not sticky (if it is too sticky add more flour). Wrap in a plastic foil and put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Again, flour the work surface and roll the dough a few millimeters thick (less than 1/4 inch). Using a glass or larger round cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles. Fill every circle with about 1/2 – 1 teaspoon (depending on the size of your dough circle) of jam of your choice, fold the circle in half, and press edges with a fork. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake around 10 minutes, or until edges begin to brown, but the top of the cookie is still white. Don’t over bake it. Remove from the oven and while still hot roll in powdered sugar. Stored in a sealed container, the cookies will keep for several weeks (but I guarantee you, they would not last that long).
Tip: these are even better one or two days later. I baked mine on Saturday and photograph them on Monday. Don’t ask me how I manage not to eat the whole batch. As soon as I took photos, they were gone within an hour, literally!!!
Happy baking!
Mihaela
Grandma's Jam filled sour cream cookies
Ingredients
- 230 grams soft butter (1 cup) (not melted) or lard
- 240 grams sour cream (1 cup)
- 350-400 grams all-purpose flour around 3 cup-or more if needed
- pinch of salt
- powdered sugar for dusting
- for the filling jam of your choice I always use homemade plum jam
Instructions
- In a bowl using rubber spatula or wooden spoon mix sour cream, lard or butter, pinch of salt and flour until the dough comes together (you can use a stand mixer with paddle attachment if you own one).
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead the dough until smooth. Continue flouring the surface until the dough is not sticky anymore. It should be soft but not sticky (if it is too sticky add more flour). Wrap in a plastic foil and put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Again, flour the work surface and roll the dough a few millimeters thick (less than 1/4 inch).
- Using a glass or larger round cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles.
- Fill every circle with about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon (depending on the size of your dough circle) of jam of your choice, fold the circle in half, and press edges with a fork.
- Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake around 10 minutes, or until edges begin to brown, but the top of the cookie is still white. Don't over bake it.
- Remove from the oven and while still hot roll in powdered sugar.
- Stored in a sealed container, the cookies will keep for several weeks (but I guarantee you, they would not last that long).
These were terrible..baked for 20 minutes…still not done…taste like dough…raccoons over my hillside will be happy
I’m sorry to hear this. But did you bake them at the right temperature? 180C /350F? If you baked these for 20 mins at 350 F they would be chared like charcoal. Since I’m from Europe, our temperature is measured in celsius, maybe you preheated your oven to 180F instead of 350F? that is the only reason I can think of. This recipe is in the family for decades and I make it every Christmas and Easter and never had a problem with it. My mum bakes them for about 12-13 mins because she loves them a bit crispier.
I can’t wait to make these! I’ve made a 1-1-1 version using Solo jam but this time I’ve made my own plum jam. I love the simplicity and old world flavors. If you have more recipes that are both simple and authentic please share!
thank you, Tara :). I hope you’ll like them. Oh, my Grandma’s cookbook is full of old recipes. When I restart publishing recipes will definitely publish some of them here.
I was looking forward to these, but they had NO taste at all
Hi Caroline, I’m sorry to hear this. This recipe is in our family for decades and we make it every Christmas and Easter, and we love them. The dough is very similar to rugelach, also made without sugar, but with cream cheese instead of sour cream. Maybe you haven’t put enough jam in the cookies or didn’t dust enough powdered sugar over them.
This is one of very old, traditional recipes when there was no vanilla or almond extract available, and people baked with what they had at hand. If you put 1 teaspoon of vanilla or 1/2 tsp of almond extract I’m sure the taste would be different and more prominent. But we love them just the way they are
I just made them yesterday for like 10th time since posted. And i just has to leave a comment after i seeing this comment. I’ve never had a problem making these, baked them exactly for 11 minutes and they come out perfect!
Thank you so much, Andrea :). It makes me happy seeing you guys enjoy my recipes. Happy holidays!
Thank you for this recipe!! The cookies are spectacular. Light, flaky, tender. Followed your directions exactly, i used Solo brand Plum/prune filling and perfection. Baked 11 mins, my oven runs a little low 340-350.
May I ask the country of origin of your “Grandma” recipe? This is what Christmas is about. Thank you again! I made 115 cookies from this recipe.
Thank you so much, Edward :)! I’m so happy you like them and love hearing you enjoy making my recipes. This is definitely one of my fave cookies ever. My Grandma is part German, part Hungarian, and part Croatian. I would say these cookies have Hungarian roots, but I can’t tell for sure. In the past Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so these originate from one of the countries that were part of the Empire. My great-grandmother made these also, and she was born in 1913. I remember both of them making this recipe. I’m so fond of these memories.
Thanks for the info! Love love these and I will be making them every year. Buttery lightness! I experimented with some and used Poppyseed filling and love those too, but the plum/prune is my fav. Merry Christmas!
These were so good. They needed 15 to 20 minutes to bake for me. The crust isn’t sweet but the jam and powered sugar make up for it. So glad I found this 🙂