Recipe by Carol Cohen, Stratford, CT
My Hungarian grandmother's recipe for Lekvar cookies. (We bake these during Christmas.)
1 16 oz. brick of cream cheese
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 cups flour
dash of salt
2 flavours of jam (traditionally these are prune and poppy seed jams. I prefer apricot and raspberry. Sorry Grandma!)
-pre-set oven to 350 degrees
-blend first 4 ingredients in a bowl with a wire whisk until a dough forms.
-roll out dough as if it were a pie crust on a floured surface
-with a paring knife, cut flattened dough into 2x2" squares
-dab a bit of jam in the center of each dough square
-lift two opposite corners of each square. Bring together so corners meet over the jam, and squeeze together so the corners stick.
-bake cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet at 350 degrees for approx. 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
-allow cookies to cool on racks, then dust with powdered sugar
-do not package cookies for storage until they are completely cooled. This way they will retain their crunch.
Special thanks to Claire from Claire's Corner Copia for judging the contest and donating prizes!