Jammy Orange Almond Cookies

So much for the long weekend, we didn't get to go to the Sydney Aquarium like we planned to, due to rain that is forecast to continue until the end of the week. I had to keep the kids occupied with something other than TV and computer games at home, so I decided that we would make cookies together. That gave me a chance to try out the new car and dinosaur cookie cutters that I bought last week.

I still had the AWW Cookies cookbook that I borrowed from the local public library, and found a recipe for orange and almond shortbread cookies. Perfect! It was just a matter of combining all the ingredients together, chilling the dough, followed by cutting out the cookie shapes. The kids had a fun time making these cookies, although I must add that the cleaning up after that took 3 times longer than usual, compared to making them myself.

The cookies turned out great, and managed to keep their shape (and not melt into a flat amoeba-looking blob on the baking tray). The kids devoured them like little cookie monsters and just couldn't get enough of them! Z and I both like the ones with a drop of strawberry jam in the middle. The cookies themselves aren't really that sweet, so the jam, which is sticky and slightly chewy (from baking) provides a nice contrast and balance to the flavours and texture. We'll be making more jammy cookies from now on, and not only on rainy days! :)