Ruby Jewel Cookies

• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
• About 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
• Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Instructions:

Whisk the egg yolks and the vanilla together in a small bowl and set it aside. Then combine the flour and sugar in a bowl--or, if you have a food processor and want to make the next bit easy, blend it in the food processor. Add two or three pieces of butter to the mix at a time and blend until crumbly. Add butter until it's all mixed in--it will be pretty sticky by the end. Finally, add the egg yolk mix and stir together (or process) until well-blended. Turn it onto a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a flat disc, then wrap completely and chill for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350º F and prepare two or three ungreased cookie sheets. Shape the dough into 3/4-inch balls of dough and place them evenly on the sheet (or you can use miniature muffin pans). Make circular indentations in the center of each ball with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pipe a small amount of jam into each cookie. (Note: Regular icing bags don't work well with this because the amount is so small and most require having a LOT of squeezable substance in the bag part to push the excess out the end hole. I suggest using a plastic bag with a tiny corner cut off, it works much better and makes for less waste.)

Bake cookies for 15 to 20 minutes--until the edges become golden. Cool on wire racks. Dust with sifted confectioners' sugar while the cookies are still hot.