Recipe: Strawberry-Filled Slices (cookies using strawberry preserves)

STRAWBERRY-FILLED SLICES

"These festive filled cookies are good with tea."

1 2/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup strawberry preserves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt to combine thoroughly; set aside.

In mixer bowl, combine butter and confectioners' sugar; beat until fluffy. Beat in egg until fluffy. Blend in vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, then nuts, blending well.

Spread dough into 3 strips, each 1 1/2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick, about 2 inches apart, down the length of greased baking sheets. Using a floured teaspoon, make a 1/2-inch-wide depression down the center of each strip.

Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from oven and press depressions down again. Return cookies to oven; bake until golden brown (10 to 12 minutes), then immediately fill each depression with a third of the preserves. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 15 minutes, then cut, on the diagonal, into 1-inch-wide strips.

Makes about 42 cookies
Source: Annette Gooch, Universal Press Syndicate, March 2000