Everyone who's looking for a jam cookie for your Holiday tray but are looking for something different from thumb-print cookies (like I was), THIS IS IT! An interesting combination of pastry and cookie whilst being sweet. The only thing I did different was to use 1 cup butter (instead of half butter and half shortening). TIPS>>>>Like another reviewer suggested, I whisked an egg white and brushed the top with it. This gave them a lovely glossy colour. Also, unlike all the other reviewers, the dough I made was very easy to work with. But since I'd read all the other reviews before beginning, I'd planned to make the dough and fridge it overnight. When I was ready to work with it, I left the dough out of the fridge for half an hour as it was too hard to work with immediately. I didnot use any flour to roll out the dough as my dough was of the right consistency and any further flour could change the proportions and thus alter the pliability of the dough. To cut the circles I used a glass dusted with flour. And like always, I crimped the edges with a fork. Make sure you seal them tight first and then crimp them this will prevent jam from spilling out when it's boiling inside the cookie in the oven. Be sure not to make the circles too thin as thin ones will burst and spill in the oven. I baked these for about 30 minutes(untill golden brown). Since the instructions did not seem to specify whether the cookie trays ought to be greased or not, I lightly greased the trays. Thanks Dee! :)

I added a bit of sugar to the dough to make it more cookie-tasting. I also didn't want to wait for it to chill and it is unworkable otherwise so I just plopped dollops on a cookie sheet and put the jam in wells that I made with a spoon. Very good.

These were very good. More like a breakfast pastry then a cookie but good. I eliminated the shorting & doubled the butter. Great for someone looking for something not too sweet

I decided not to use the shortning which made the cookies more like flaky biscuits- DELICIOUS! Recipe leaves out steps: should say put jam in the middle of half the cookies, then cover each with a remaining cookie, and press the edges together to keep the jam inside. I also whisked an egg and brushed the tops, then sprinkled with sugar before baking.