Since we had all the strawberries from our Bountiful Basket to use up and plenty of cream cheese on hand, we decided to make these cute little cookie snaps one night around ten (why we always start cooking so late is beyond me). Not only did these snaps turn out creamily-delicious, they also look a lot harder to make than they actually are, which make them the perfect thing to make for a small party or anywhere where you’re looking to impress 🙂 However, although not too complicated to actually make, they do take quite a bit of time, so make sure you carve out a couple hours. Enjoy!
Berry-Cream Cookie Snaps (from Taste of Home Prize-Winning Recipes 2007)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs seedless strawberry jam
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional (we didn’t use any for ours)
Batter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries (we actually added a lot more so we could just mix it throughout the whole cream-cheese filling instead of just dipping the sides like it says)
For filling, in a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and jam until blended. Fold in whipped cream and food coloring if desired. Chill.
In a bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, egg whites, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Whisk in butter until blended. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Preparing four cookies at a time, drop batter by 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls 4 in. apart onto prepared pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 5-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Immediately remove one cookie at a time from parchment and form into a tube around a greased clean round wooden clothespin (we tried the handle of a pizza cutter but then Matt just started forming the tubes with his fingers by just pinching the sides of the cookies together and holding it for a second). Press lightly to seal, hold until set, about 20 seconds. Remove cookie from clothespin, place on waxed paper to cool. Continue with remaining cookies. If cookies become too cool to shape, return to oven for 1 minute to soften. Repeat with remaining batter.
Just before serving, pipe or spoon filling into cookie shells (much easier to pipe it–just spoon all the filling into a plastic bag and cut a tiny piece off the corner). Dip end of cookie into strawberries and additional sugar. Refrigerate leftovers.
Yield: About 2 dozen (our batch made slightly less, because some of our cookies were bigger than it said)
