Excalibur Cookies

That stack of seed catalogs is still on my desk. All I have had time to do is thumb through the tomatoes in the Territorial Seed Company catalog and casually ask Dave,

” Should I plant okra again this spring? What about watermelon? Cantaloupe?”

I silently wonder how much of my time this spring might be needed to care for my Mom instead of tending the garden, but with the ever present hope of a dyed in the wool gardener I will likely order the full array of plants and seeds anyway.

I have to admit that seed catalogs are just a small percent of the volumes that arrive in my mailbox. Most go straight to the paper recycling container at our neighborhood grade school but occasionally I find something interesting in one of them such as the cookie recipe in the holiday edition of the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Catalogue. The King Arthur folks describe them as a cross between a cookie and a bar. They call them Lemon Jam Slices. I decided to try them because they looked easy and I could use my homemade jam for the filling. I substituted lemon juice and zest for the lemon powder in the original recipe. I was pleasantly surprised about how quick and easy the recipe is to make. The cookies disappeared quickly too.

The Sands, Taylor, and Wood Co. is the parent company of King Arthur Flour. They have been producing flour and other products since 1790. Excalibur is a retired name for one of their flours. Come to think of it these cookies filled with raspberry jam would be great for Valentine’s Day.

Excalibur Cookies

1 cup (8 oz.) soft butter

1 cup (7 oz.) sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Juice and zest of one lemon

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup raspberry or apricot jam

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 Tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them.

Beat together the softened butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and lemon juice until fluffy.
Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat in the egg yolk. Mix in the baking powder and flour until well blended.

Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 12” long and 1” in diameter.

Put two logs on each prepared baking sheet, leaving several inches between them. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to make a trough down the center of each log. Fill the trough with jam. I used a spoon but you could go to the trouble of using a pastry bag.

Bake the cookie logs for 18 to 20 minutes, until they are set and lightly browned around the edges. Let them cool about 3 minutes, and then carefully slice them on the diagonal into 1” pieces. I found that I needed to wash my bread knife frequently to get a clean cut because my jam stuck to it as I was slicing.

As the cookies continue to cool, make the glaze:
Sift the sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon juice. Heat the butter and milk together until the butter melts; then add it to the sugar and juice. Beat until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies depending upon how thick you slice them.