Split Seconds Cookies

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup salted butter (this is 1 1/2 sticks, or 12 tablespoons)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• .
• Fruit Toppings
• --Jelly or preserves to match or contrasts your fruits
• --Fresh figs (use with fig jam)
• --Fresh tangerines (use with orange marmalade)
• .
• Drizzle
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons half & half (or use milk or water)
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract paste
• Tiny pinch fine sea salt or table salt

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350F degrees. Line a sheet pan or baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter on medium until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg until well blended. Add flour and baking powder and mix on low until dough forms.
3. Divide dough into 6 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface (such as a cutting board or countertop that you can roll something out on), shape the portions into 6 rolls 9-10 inches long. They should look like loooong cigars! Place these rolls on your prepared baking sheet.
4. With your fingers or the handle of a wooden spoon, press lengthwise down the center and into the top of each roll to make an indentation about 1/4-inch deep and 1/4- to 1/2-inch wide. You're making a trough to hold your fruit toppings!
5. Fill each indentation with a bit of jelly and then pieces or segments of the fruit. I used fig jam and fig quarters for a roll, orange marmalade and tangerine segments for another roll, and cherry jam and halved fresh cherries for a third roll. Press the fruit in lightly with your hands. (I also tried one of each without the jam and just the fruit, and my family preferred it WITH jam AND fruit. It's slightly less sweet without jam; I liked it that way, but for mass appeal, use jam AND fruit.)
6. Bake 20 minutes; it will be light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on sheet for 5-10 minutes, and drizzle with the glaze, to make it pretty.
7. Then use a sharp spatula to press down and cut between the segments or slices of fruit. I got 9 or 10 cookies per roll; your mileage may vary depending on how many slices or segments of fruit you apply. (More is better, so I would place them more horizontally than vertically so I could get more fruit on each roll.)
8. All to cool completely and store in an airtight container on the counter. These were wonderful the first day, second and third days. After that, they were GONE, so I can't attest to how long they will last on the counter.
9. Makes 50-60 cookies, depending on how you cut them.

Notes