Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies

Really, we HAVE been cooking & baking since September. I know we have!! I keep forgetting to post. Here's the first recipe we tackeled at our house for the holidays. Please note that you have to press HARD to get these to look like squares & stars. The first tray I cooked looked like little circles & stars with puddles of jam on them. They still tasted great though. Thanks to Every Day Food for the recipe and a random blogger for the photo of nice cookies since mine didn't look that great!

8 oz bar cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups jam, jelly or perserves

1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter & sugar until light & fluffy. With mixer on low, add flour & salt; beat until combined.

2. Divide dough into 3 portions: flatten each intio a disk. Roll each disk to an 1/8 inch thickness between sheets of parchment. Stack dough (still in parchment) on a baking sheet; refrigerate 20 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 375. Mix egg yolk with 1/2 tsp water. Working with 1 dough sheet at a time, peel off parchment. With a 2 1/2 inch round or 2 inch star cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Spoon 1/2 tsp jam into center of each and brush exposed dough with egg wash. Shape cookies and arrange, 2 inches apart on parchement lined baking sheets.

4. Bake unti cookies are light & golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on wire racks.

SHAPING COOKIES: When using rounds of dough, firmly pinch edge or form 4 corners. If using star-shaped dough, fold points over to center and press lightly to seal.