This recipe was in my mom’s recipe box, and so I thought I’d give it a try this holiday season. It’s not something my mom ever made (that I can remember) and it’s not attributed to anyone, so it’s a bit of a mystery heirloom recipe. The texture is soft and light with a little crunch from the nuts. The flavor is equally subtle, not too sweet, with most of the sugar coming from a small dollop of jam. If you want a sweeter cookie, you could probably add more sugar to the cookie dough as this only calls for 1/4 cup.

For the jam, you can probably use any type you want, as the cookie dough doesn’t have a strong flavor that would clash with any particular fruit. In this batch, I used blueberry on one dozen and gooseberry rhubarb on the other dozen.

The original recipe said that this would make about 4 1/2 dozen, though my batch made just 26. I thought I was rolling the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls, but…[shrug] Maybe consider making smaller balls if you want smaller cookies. They do puff up a bit in the oven, too.

1/2 c. butter
1 egg
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. sour cream
2 1/2 c. unsifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
~1 c. chopped nuts
jam

Use a food processor to chop the nuts into a fine consistency.

Blend the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until fluffy. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients with sour cream to the wet mix.

Shape into 1 1/4-inch balls. Roll in finely chopped nuts and place onto a greased cookie sheet.

Flatten the balls with your hand and then press your thumb into the centers to create a little well. Fill the centers with jam.

Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes.