Holiday cookies: Banbury tarts

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Jacqueline Shubitowski of Sherman Oaks was one of the 10 winners of our holiday cookie contest last year, with these simple but delicious Banbury tarts she learned from her mother-in-law.They’re among the 50 favorite holiday cookie recipes we’ve collected in our ‘Holiday Cookies’ e-book, which is on sale now.

All of the recipes have been vetted by the Times’ Test Kitchen, so you know they work. Download it on the Amazon Kindle, the Nook or via the iBookstore. Or go straight to the source.

And don’t forget: Thursday we’ll be unveiling a whole new collection of sweets from this year’s contest.

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Banbury tarts

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Servings: About 5 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups flour

Seedless jelly or jam (preferably currant or raspberry)

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, then the vanilla. Slowly beat in the flour until combined and smooth to form the dough (the dough will be a bit stiff at the end, and you may need to add the last cup of flour by hand).

3. Form the dough into small balls and make a depression in the middle with your thumb. Spoon a teaspoon or so of jelly in the depression. Space the cookies about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet and bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Each of 5 dozen cookies: 105 calories; 1 gram protein; 14 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 19 mg cholesterol; 7 grams sugar; 3 mg sodium.