Rolled Apricot Tea Cookies

When I think about Spring, I think about daffodils and tulips, budding trees, robins singing sweet songs, and Grandma Bess’ Rolled Apricot Tea Cookies! I just love the dainty look of these sandwich cookies with the cute cut out shapes and the tangy apricot jam filling. Rolled Apricot Tea Cookies are perfect for a luncheon or afternoon tea with friends, outside on your patio, with all the spring flowers budding around you. A perfect cookie for welcoming the new sunny and warm Spring season!

Cookies by Bess has several apricot cookie recipes. I wanted to make the cookies pictured on the front and back covers of the 1980 Cookies by Bess cookie book. I wasn’t sure which cookie recipe this was, so I called to ask my Mom. She wasn’t sure either ? so I read all the different apricot recipes to try and figure it out. I decided on the Rolled Apricot Tea Cookies, but quickly realized this wasn’t the cookie on the cover.  I’ll just have to keep trying all the “jam” type recipes until I find the right one!

Before I go any further, I want to mention that this is the first time I’ve edited the original recipe in my blog. I had a feeling I was going to have to adjust this recipe when I originally read it, as I noticed there wasn’t much, if any liquid in the ingredients list. When writing my blogs and listing the recipe, I normally list the recipe as written in Cookies by Bess to stay true to the original recipes. I then talk about the adjustments, if any, I made to the recipe while baking in my blog.  This time, I included my adjustments in the ingredients lists because they made a big difference in the end result cookies and without these adjustments, I don’t think the cookies would come out right.  So, if/when you decide to make these cookies, you can benefit of my experience with the recipe and your cookies will be at least as good, if not better, than mine!

Now let’s get started with the recipe. I gathered all my ingredients together and got started. I rated this recipe 3-stars for difficulty because of all the steps involved with the rolling and cookie cutting as well as building the cookies with the jam.

The main issue with this recipe was that the dough didn’t come together. I anticipated this happening as I was adding the dry ingredients to the butter, egg, and lemon zest. It was so dry that the flour and sugar didn’t bind together into a dough. It seemed obvious to me that more liquid was needed.

I tasted a little of the dough to see if I could identify what might be missing or what liquid would complement or enhance to flavor. I decided to add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Boy, did that one teaspoon make a difference!  But, even after adding the vanilla, the dough never really came together completely. I ended up using my hands finish mixing the dough together and then form it into a ball. I wrapped the ball in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator to chill.

In hindsight, in addition to the vanilla, I could have also added a teaspoon or two of milk, adding it a bit at a time until the consistency of the dough was just right. Both the vanilla and a little milk are good complements to the cookie flavors, so really won’t change the taste of the cookies.

Another adjustment I made was to use pecans instead of almonds. The only reason for this adjustment was because I didn’t have any almonds on hand. I will definitely use almonds next time, but I think the pecans added a nice rich flavor and the little flecks of pecans give the cookies personality and a nice texture. It’s best to chop the pecans very finely so there aren’t any issues rolling out the dough.

I left the dough in the refrigerator for only about 15 minutes because I didn’t want it to dry out any more. I was hoping it would continue to bind together and therefore, roll out okay. It did roll out well and worked well with the cookie cutters. It took me about an hour to roll and cut out the entire dough. By the end of the rolling and cutting, the dough was very dry and was cracking, so I was glad to be done!

You can certainly be creative with this cookie! Since these were going to be sandwich cookies, I didn’t want to make them too big. And for a tea cookie, I prefer a bite size versus one that requires multiple bites.  I tried to be as creative as I could with the limited cookies cutter shapes I had that were small enough and would work for a sandwich cookie.

I baked each batch for 10 minutes. The cookies were easy to remove from the cookie sheets and cooled nicely on the cooling racks.  The result were cookies that kept their shape and size which was great and made the sandwich building easy!

After baking all the cookies, I let them cool completely and then started to assembly to little sandwiches.

Any flavor jelly, jam, or preserve will work. I used apricot flavor as that’s what the recipe calls for and I had a nice size jar of apricot preserves in the refrigerator.  I’m really happy with how these cookies turned out!  The different shapes and mixed matched sandwiches looked so nice.  It was fun to experiment!

For a final touch, I decided to sprinkle powdered sugar over the top just to add another layer of sweetness. These cookies are definitely what I think if when I think of tea cookies! Rolled Apricot Tea Cookies are perfect for a luncheon or brunch setting. They will go perfect with coffee, tea, or even a mimosa or glass of dessert wine!  They have a rich buttery and nutty flavor that works so well with the tart and tangy apricot flavor.  The added powdered sugar sprinkled on top gives these cookies just the right amount of additional sweetness.  Perfect for welcoming Spring!

Enjoy!!

XXOO,

Janet

Rolled Apricot Tea Cookies

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★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

Ingredients

2 cups sifted flour
1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
½ tsp salt
1 cup chopped almonds
¾ cup butter
1 egg
2 tsp lemon rind, grated
1 tsp vanilla (added by Janet)
1 tsp to 1 Tbs milk (added by Janet)

Instructions

Mix flour, sugar, and salt together. Set aside. Cream butter, add egg and lemon rind. Add vanilla and mix well. Add sifted dry ingredients and nuts, mix very well. Add milk 1 tsp at a time until dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for about 15 – 30 minutes until just firm. Roll 1/8 inch thick on floured board. Cut with round (or desired shape) cutter and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. After cookies have cooled, put together with thick apricot jam. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar if desired. Store in air-tight container or freeze.

Notes

Ingredients and instructions italicized were added by Janet.

Recipe Yield

Makes about 5 dozen 1 - 1 1/2 inch sandwich cookies 1x

Cookie Category:  Rolled

Cookie Difficulty Rating

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