Wedding Recipe #2: Filled Cookies

This was a recipe given to me by a member of my husband's family. She is very sweet and very talented in the kitchen if this recipe is any indication.

I've been anxious to make this recipe since I first received it, but wanted to give it the time and attention it deserved. As anyone on my mother's side of the family will profess, my Nanny made THE BEST filled sugar cookies. Since she passed away almost 6 years ago I've longed for the comfort of her homemade cookies. In my mind, tasting one her sugar cookies would be almost like having her arms around me again telling me she loved me.

So there, I revealed my hidden agenda. Making these cookies was a whole new experience for me, but at the same time it felt comfortable and right. It was almost as if my hands were guided by my grandmother as I stirred the filling, rolled the dough, and pulled the cookies out of the oven at the precise moment that they went from uncooked to barely browned.

In the end, the cookies were not quite as sweet as Nanny's used to be, but they were by far the closest I've tasted since she's been gone. So, thank you Kathi for the recipe and thank you Nanny for teaching me a love of baking that continues to grow each day.

The recipe. The only thing I changed was that I left out the lemon and used vanilla extract instead. Nanny's cookies didn't have lemon in them and I was trying to replicate her flavor.


My fingers are just covered where it says that the recipe makes two dozen.
I doubled it. I made half with the raisin and date filling and half filled with cherry preserves.

And here they are! Delicious!
*Any members of the Parker family that happen to be reading, I'll make these for the next family get together and you can all see what you think!*