Dark Chocolate Raspberry Medallions

Every year me, my sister, and my mom make tons of cookies to send friends and family for the holidays. Along with our basics we make every year such as gingersnaps, spritz, etc, we also like to try something new. This past holiday I came up with these delicious cookies. My dad really wanted a cookies that had raspberry jam on them and I love chocolate cookies so I created these. These cookies look and taste amazing but are super easy and quick to make. I usually use a cookie gun to make them prettier but they are just as good without one.

• 1 cup Softened butter
  
• 2/3 cup Sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 cup Hershey's special dark cocoa (regular cocoa works good too)
  
• 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour Raspberry jam (jam can be seeded or seedless just make sure its nicely tart and not too sweet)

Put the softened butter in a bowl and beat it with a mixer until its nice and creamy. Beat in the sugar and then add the egg and vanilla and beat them in too. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture. It sometimes takes a while for the last bit of flour to mix in all the way, however, if it won't mix in and it looks really dry just add a splash of milk.

If your kitchen is very warm you should allow the dough to sit in your refrigerator for five to ten minutes. when you are ready to start making cookies, you can either roll out the cookies into half inch balls or use a cookie gun. If using a cookie gun make sure you choose a shape that is solid and will hold the jelly like the one in the picture (no wreaths or bears).

Place cookies about two inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Using your thumb, gently press down on the center of each cookie to create an indent to hold the jam. Scoop about a half teaspoon of jam into the center of each cookie. If the jelly is too thick, in a separate bowl, zap a small amount of it in a microwave for a few seconds at a time until it thins out a bit.

Bake the cookies for about 7-9 minutes. The jelly should be bubbling and the cookie part should be less shiny.

Once they are done remove them from the oven and and let them sit on the tray for about a minute before moving them to a cooling rack.

Allow the cookies to cool a couple more minutes before devouring

I have also made these cookies in vanilla by switching out the cocoa with more flour and adding a half teaspoon more vanilla extract. I've only used raspberry jam but i'm sure other kinds could be just as good.

I hope you like these cookies and enjoyed my Instructable!