As anyone with a canning habit the size of mine knows, finding ways to incorporate jam into nearly every meal of the day is really the only way to control the tide of preserves. Happily, a new twist on jam use has come into my life and it’s divine. It came to my attention through Deena at Mostly Foodstuffs, who found it over at Food52 (the original recipe comes from The Runaway Spoon). I’ll just let Deena tell you about it.
I test drove this recipe earlier in the week, after lusting over it since Food52’s post a month ago. And it did not disappoint — these are amazing. Truly. The cookie itself is salty and savory, piquant with blue cheese, and counterbalanced with a dollop of tart jam. And, as an added bonus, it has a delightfully short and flaky crumb (and is easy to make, with just a handful of ingredients). It’s like the most elegant Cheez-It ever, the best of a cheese plate (cracker, cheese and preserves) all in one tiny little mouthful. This is a recipe that practically screams “I am your New Year’s Eve party appetizer!”
We’ve missed the boat for New Year’s Eve, but these little suckers truly should be kept in mind next time you need a delicious, slightly fancypants tidbit. Deena’s tried them with a variety of jams, all to great success. I had them with fig jam and felt compelled to dance a little jig of joy while they were in my mouth.
Sounds amazing. I’m thinking that my rosemary apple jelly is going to be deliciuos in these. Now – where do I find the recipe?
Sounds fantastic! What other jams would you recommend pairing with it?
I did a recipe very similar to this with chevre that was a great success. Just add a quarter cup more flour and swap out the blue cheese for the goat cheese. Addictive!
This was, in fact, our New Year’s Eve appetizer; my girlfriend made these with two over-set preserves I made (a pear jelly and an orange marmalade) that we were trying to figure out what to do with, since they weren’t easily spreadable. We also modified slightly to use a gluten-free flour (girlfriend is celiac). Definitely the stars of our appetizer plate (they were alongside some roasted and salted nuts and an assortment of olives).
I made a blue cheese crust last year for a plum tart, since blue cheeses and plums actually share a flavor compound. The crust tasted a lot like goldfish, and worked pretty well with the plum topping. The jam idea is a good one, and I want to add foie gras as well because I’m crazy like that.
Man, these look yummy. I preserved whole figs last summer, and I’ll bet half a fig pressed into each of these puppies would be fantastic. I’m doin’ it!
@the_matt, I’d love to hear your GF version recipe for these.
@cook.bot We just substituted the cup of flour for one cup of Bob’s Red Mill GF baking mix. The mix is slightly bean-y (it has chickpea and fava bean flour in it), but the flavor of the blue cheese is pretty strong. Basically, we couldn’t stop eating them.
These were amazing and a huge hit at our house!
I have been looking for a recipe like this. This would be perfect with jalapeno jam!
Thanks for trying my recipe – I absoultely love to hear all the amazingly creative things people are doing with these little babies!
I made this yesterday. It was fantastic! I wrote about it over here: http://forachange.blogspot.com/2011/01/two-new-recipes.html if you’re interested.
Thanks so much, it was just what I needed. Something savory after all of the sweets of the Holidays.