Apricot Sesame Cookies

When I was a teen, I’ve always wanted to bake cookies with jam fillings. And they always, always bubble and overflow and get burnt even before the cookie is done. I never knew why and always have been skeptical when it comes to baking with jam.

Then I made my first jam. Then I found that real jam will not bubble that much, because when I cooked it, the setting stage has already gotten past all the bubbling and bubbling. Most of our jams, especially the more affordable ones are made with pectin and flavouring, rather than real fruit. They consist of very little real fruit, and the preparation process is different from real fruit jam, which explains why it bubbles so much. And when I came across the recipe, I know, with my homemade real fruit jam, it will work perfectly.


If you all remembered, I bought a lot of sugar apricots and I also commented that my jam made with sugar apricot lacked tartness, which is usually found with apricots. Then for my balance of apricots(that I didn’t know what to do with earlier and after I baked the apricot yogurt cake, there was still 1 punnet left), I threw in the zest of one whole lemon and juice from the lemon as well. It worked perfectly and my sugar apricot finally had some tartness in it, to offset the super sweetness of the fruit. The lemony apricot jam really worked wonders with the flavor here.

Apricot Sesame Cookies Recipe
Source: Taste of Home

115gm butter
50gm caster sugar
170gm all purpose flour
Sesame seeds for rolling (mine is very very fine)
Homemade Apricot jam for filling (or buy the one that offers the highest fruit content)

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Sift flour and mix until incorporated.
3. Form small balls of dough about the size of a calamansi lime and roll them round and coat the balls with sesame seed. Place on baking tray (I didn’t line or butter the tray)
4. Preheat oven to 180/200C
5. With a wooden spoon or the handle of any other apparatus that seems suitable, make an indentation in the ball.
6. Fill indentations with some jam.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes or until lightly golden.

8. Cool on a wire rack. Keep in air tight container.

Verdict: These are super yummy!! For a person who loves any bakes with fruits (or maybe anything with apricots, LOL), I'm super sold by this. I'd say, it depends on the jam. Maybe you can use homemade pineapple jam with this, as the cookie itself is soft and fluffy. Or maybe just make your own apricot jam for this. There are apricots in the supermarkets now, and if they are super sweet, just throw in lots of lemon zest and juice to add some nice tartness to it. With or without sesame? Personally, I find the sesame seeds nothing much on this cookie. Maybe they weren't toasted before hand. So, they weren't all that fragrant. It just makes it look better with not much taste. The next time I make this, I'll skip the sesame seeds. Save money and save time.

Maybe you'd ask, I don't want to make jam. Can I use any jam off the shelf? The answer, is maybe not. It might bubble and spill and get burnt even before the cookies are done. But there is onething called baking jam. I'm not sure about baking jam, though. I have never used it before, but I've seen it at bakery supply shops. it specifically states "baking jam", so it could be the type of jam you could substitute with if you don't have home made jam. Anyone can help with this?

I am thinking of experimenting with a jam that uses dried apricots so that readers from anywhere in Malaysia can make some, but wait, give me 3 more months. I am trying to clear my pantry as I am going to move end of February, and this time, it's for sure!!! I don't care and I want to move.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011)