Author: Gretchen Rubin
The Happiness Project
@gretchenrubin

Prompt: Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

I am not really a craft person.  I’ve dabbled in calligraphy and origami, needlepoint and latchhooking.  I took a pottery class this year and did many art projects as a child.  I’ve considered taking drawing or painting classes.

The thing is, I don’t have the passion for arts and crafts.  I get bored and move on.  I don’t have the attention to detail in my work to make it really special.  I think learning the violin took too much out of me and I just can’t feel that much passion for another artistic pursuit. 

I am, however, a baker, particularly cookies.  I love baking (not so much cooking but baking). What is the last thing I made?  Jam-filled butter cookies!  I think cookies are my favorite thing to bake.  I love the process..mixing the dough…tasting the dough…making the test cookie (my grandmother taught me to ALWAYS make a test cookie– I don’t always make a test cookie but when I don’t I often regret it)…scooping the dough onto the cookie trays…setting the timing and waiting…tasting the cookies…putting them out on the wire racks…waiting for them to cool…putting them away in tins.  Oh, how I love making cookies!  The problem isn’t the time for cookie making, but that I eat too much of the dough plus too many of the cookies.  Otherwise I would make cookies much more often, but I would be quite overweight. 

Here’s the most recent recipe I made.  These are delicious, and no one can eat just one These are NOT a health food.

Jam Filled Butter Cookies (from allrecipes.com, modified)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

4 egg yolks

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup fruit preserves, any flavor (I have tried strawberry and raspberry, both were great!)

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar, and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger or an instrument of similar size to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with ½ teaspoon of preserves (I usually use a ziploc bag and cut off the corner to make this easier).

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom. Remove from cookies sheets to cool on wire racks.