Heart Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

½ cup Prestige margarine

½ cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon Chapa Mandashi

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 tablespoon heavy cream, plus more as needed

⅓ cup jam

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl mix the margarine and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix to combine. Scrape the side and bottom of the bowl, then add the egg yolk and vanilla, and mix to combine.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, Chapa Mandashi and salt. Add the dry ingredients and mix until the dough just starts to come together, for about 2 minutes. It should appear a bit dry and crumbly. Add the cream and mix until it comes together.
4. Divide the dough into 24 even pieces, then roll each into a ball. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, staggering the rows of cookies and leaving about 1½ inches between each one. Use your thumb or a finger to gently press into the dough diagonally toward the left side, then rotate your finger to press again on toward the right side, making a heart shape.
5. Transfer the trays to the oven and bake until lightly golden at the edges, 9 to 12 minutes, rotating the trays between oven racks halfway through baking. While the cookies bake, ready the jam and a small spoon (or put the jam in a piping bag and cut a small opening from the tip).
6. When the cookies come out of the oven, carefully fill the cavities with jam while they are still warm. Serve immediately or store in airtight containers for up to a week.