These Strawberry Jam Cookies are chewy strawberry cookies that are topped with a delicious homemade strawberry jam and a sweet strawberry glaze. The strawberry jam is also mixed into the cookie dough so that every bite of these beauties has sweet strawberries! If that wasn't enough, these gorgeous pink cookies are gluten free, nut free, eggless and can easily be made vegan! Don't have time to make homemade jam? No worries! Store-bought works just as well!
In a medium saucepan, combine the 1 pound quartered strawberries, the 1 cup granulated sugar, the 2 tablespoons orange juice and the 2 pinches of kosher salt.
Mix it all together and set over medium heat, smashing the strawberries with the back of a spoon.
Stirring constantly, cook until it begins to boil. About 5 minutes.
Once boiling, turn the heat to low and cook for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens.If you're using fresh strawberries, the jam will most likely take longer than the 75 minutes to thicken due to added moisture.
After the 75 minutes it should look liquidy but syrupy. If not, continue cooking at low heat. Once thickened, remove from the heat and let it cool for 30 minutes. It will thicken more.Once completely cool, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.
For the Cookies
In a large bowl, whisk together the 2 cups gluten free flour, the 1.5 tablespoons of cornstarch, the 1.5 teaspoons baking powder and the ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.
In a small bowl, using a spoon, mix together the 2 heaping tablespoons cornstarch and the 3 tablespoons water until thin and watery. It will be thick and tacky at first.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a hand held mixer, beat the ½ cup room temperature butter or vegan baking stick and 1 ¼ cups of granulated sugar until soft and creamy. About 2-3 minutes.
Slowly beat the cornstarch water mixture, ¼ cup milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla into the creamed butter and sugar. It will look chunky; that's normal.
Slowly beat in the gluten free flour mixture a little at a time until just combined.
Take ¼ cup of the cool strawberry jam and slowly beat it into the dough until the dough no longer appears slimy. If desired, add in 4 drops red food coloring and mix into the dough so it is blended throughout. The dough will be very thick and sticky; almost like taffy.
Keep the dough in a bowl, cover the top with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2.5 hours. You must not skip this step or the cookies will spread everywhere. I love to chill mine overnight.
After 2.5 hours, preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Take the dough out of the fridge. Using an ice cream scoop or large cookie scoop (I use a 2 ounce cookie scoop), scoop the dough out into 12 scoops.The cookie dough will be quite sticky and may stick to your hands if they're warm. Immediately roll each dough ball in the extra 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar and coat completely. This will make the dough balls not sticky.
Flatten each scoop into a thick disc versus a ball. If you don't do this step, the cookies will remain in the ball shape when baking. The disc may stick to your hands again while shaping.Once again, drop the disc in the granulated sugar to coat. This will prevent the stickiness as well.
Place 6 dough discs about 3-4 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheet. I only bake 6 at a time. Place the other dough discs into the fridge.Bake the cookies at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
Immediately reshape the cookies when they come out of the oven by using a spatula to push them into a circle shape and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 min before transferring to a cooling rack. If you don't do this, the cookies will break apart into a giant mess.Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool completely. If you place the jam onto the hot cookie, it will develop a liquid layer in-between the cookie and the jam.
Once cool, spread about ½ teaspoon of strawberry jam onto the tops of the cookies, making sure you keep the jam away from the edges of the cookies; otherwise you'll end up with a mess.
For the Strawberry Glaze
In a small bowl, whisk together the 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon of the cooled strawberry jam.
Start adding in the 1.5 tablespoons water a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency. You may not need all the water. The glaze should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and not thin and watery.
Drizzle the strawberry glaze on top of the cool cookies. If you drizzle it on warm cookies, the glaze will melt.It is easier to hold your hand about 6 inches above the cookies and move your arm side to side while drizzling to create a horizontal pattern. Then get more glaze and move your arm from top to bottom to create a vertical pattern. Let the glaze harden.
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Notes
For the Jam: Make the jam one day prior to making the cookies. It takes a while for the jam to reduce down and then cool. The jam must be thick; it cannot be watery like a strawberry sauce otherwise a wet layer will form under the jam (on top of the cookie) after storing. If the jam is still too liquidy after cooking for 75 minutes, continue to reduce it down on low heat, until thick. Let the jam sit out at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes prior to adding to the dough.For Smaller cookies: Use a small cookie scoop and bake at same temperature for 13 min. Make sure to keep dough in the fridge in-between baking the batches.Vegan: Use a dairy free gluten free flour, vegan sugar, vegan baking sticks, a non-dairy milk and vegan red food coloring. All Purpose Flour: I cannot test this due to celiac disease, but use 2 packed cups of regular flour (336 grams), 2 tablespoons of milk and 3 tablespoons of strawberry jam. Still chill the dough. Storing: Once the glaze has hardened, store the cookies in single layer in an airtight container or individually wrapped in foil. If wrapping them, try to create a teepee with the top of the foil so it isn't touching the jam as much. Store them wrapped in foil for up to two days in the fridge or in the freezer.Let them come to room temperature prior to eating. They tend to get hard in the fridge and taste best when room temperature or warm. Or you can microwave them for a few seconds. Be careful not to burn your mouth on hot jam.If in the freezer, let come to room temperature for about an hour or two on the counter prior to eating.