There’s a short story of how Jared came to visit me back in college (many many years before we started dating) and tried to make these cookies. He was horrified when he found out that I had neither a hand mixer or a real oven in the dorm. We ended up mixing it with a fork… A FORK… and baked them in a tiny toaster oven. Thankfully I now have a hand mixer as well as a real oven. Made life a little easier! This time around, I used some quince paste I had leftover and I think they turned out pretty yummy!

Mrs. Fields’ Surprise-Filled Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
I cup salted butter, softened
I cup white sugar (I cut this to 3/4cup)
I large egg
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
I cup fruit jam

Preheat oven to 300°F.

In medium bowl combine flour and baking powder. Mix well with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In medium bowl with an electric mixer cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium until smooth. Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed until thoroughly combined. Dough will be firm.

Scoop tablespoonfuls of dough, roll into 1-inch-diameter balls and place on ungreased baking sheets, 1 inch apart. With the small end of a melon baller, scoop out the center of the dough balls. Do not scoop all the way through the cookie. Place 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the center of each dough ball. Place scooped-out dough back into mixing bowl to use to form more cookies. (Instead of scooping out the dough, I gently pressed it down with the larger end of a pestle.)

Bake 22-24 minutes or until light golden brown. Transfer to a cool, flat surface.

Yield: About 4 dozen

from Mrs. Field’s Cookie Book