A little sweetness to cheer us up.

It's cold and dark out so early now. You feel like a mole trapped inside with only the dark night surrounding you. (Well, I do)
Not a cheerful thought...

So here are some delights to make us forget about the long winter to come.

(I haven't actually baked anything this week since it's midterm time but here is a desert that I've made in the past with a very good friend of mine.)

Apricot bow ties

_____•______.______•______.____________________•______.______•______.
___._____•____•__.____•______._____•
__•____•__.____•______._____•
•____•

I made these with my friend when she came out to visit me in the country. They are really easy to make. We cheated by using apricot jam bought from the store but it tasted just as good as homemade jam. The recipe was from a Fine Cooking Magazine. It was a special edition all about cookies. Yum!

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted; more for rolling

3/4 cup apricot preserves

One large egg, beaten

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and the butter until light and fluffy.

On a low speed, gradually mix in flour until a smooth dough forms.

On a lightly floured surface, kneed the dough into a ball and divide the ball in 3 equal pieces.

Wrap each piece in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.

Preheat oven too 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove one piece of dough from the fridge and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Then cut about 2-inch squares (Works better with a pizza cutter)

Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of apricot jam/preserve in the center of the square. Fold one corner into the center, dab with the beaten egg, and then bring the opposite corner into the center and pinch firmly together to seal the corners.

Repeat with the remaining dough...

Bake until golden and puffy. It will take about 10-12 minutes.

Let the cookies cool and then sprinkle with confectionners' sugar.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

This cream cheese dough can also be used for another kind of cookie.

This one...