Christmas

Beurre & Sel's Port Jammer Cookies

October 11, 2012
4.3
3 Ratings
Photo by Kyle Orosz
  • Makes about 30 cookies
Author Notes

I created this recipe for my cookie boutique, Beurre & Sel, using Fonseca Bin 27, a delicious ruby Port. To start, I cook dried cranberries with Bin 27, honey and spice, and then fold them into a spiced shortbread dough. Before baking the cookies in a muffin tin (at Beurre & Sel I cut and make the cookies in 2-inch metal baking rings), I dab the center of each round of dough with cherry jam and then surround the jam with cocoa streusel. It's a bunch of parts that add up to one great cookie. —Dorie Greenspan

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Ingredients
  • For the cranberries and cookie base:
  • 5 black peppercorns
  • 2 points star anise
  • one 2-inch piece cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup Fonseca Bin 27 Port
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • For the streusel and jam:
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1/2 cup cherry jam
  • 1 tablespoon Fonseca Bin 27
Directions
  1. To make the cranberries: Tie spices in a cheesecloth bundle and put in a small saucepan 2. Add honey, water and BIN 27. Simmer for 1 min. 3. Add cranberries and cook and stir until liquid evaporates. Discard spices. Cool cranberries.
  2. To make the cookie base: Mix flour, cinnamon, salt, ginger and black pepper together.
  3. Beat butter until creamy. Beat in both sugars. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
  4. Blend in flour mixture, then stir in the Port-cooked cranberries.
  5. Divide dough into 2 disks. Wrap and chill 1 hr. Roll each disk between wax paper until dough is 1/4 inch thick. Freeze for 3 hrs.
  6. To make the streusel: Mix all the flour, brown sugar, cocoa, sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter together in a large bowl. Rub everything together with your fingers until streusel forms moist crumbs. Cover and chill for at least 1 hr.
  7. Baking Instructions: Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Have a 12-cup muffin tin on hand.
  8. Stir the cherry jam and Fonseca BIN 27 together.
  9. Cut out 2-inch rounds of dough. Drop a round of dough into each muffin cup. Put about 1/2 tsp. of jam in the center of each cookie and spread into a small circle. Top with streusel.
  10. Bake 14 to 15 mins, until streusel sets and jam bubbles. Cool to room temperature before serving.

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With the publication her 14th book, Baking with Dorie, New York Times bestselling author Dorie Greenspan marks her thirtieth anniversary as a cookbook author. She has won five James Beard Awards for her cookbooks and journalism and was inducted into the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. A columnist for the New York Times Magazine and the author of the xoxoDorie newsletter on Bulletin, Dorie was recently awarded an Order of Agricultural Merit from the French government for her outstanding writing on the foods of that country. She lives in New York City, Westbrook, Connecticut, and Paris. You can find Dorie on Instagram, Facebook, Bulletin and her website,

10 Reviews

Beth100 December 6, 2012
Elsie, I mail-ordered my rings from either Fantes or Broadway Panhandler. The brand I have is Fat Daddio, heavy, sturdy, well-made. RRD 3072 is printed on the side of each ring. They are 2" tall and 2 1/2" in diameter. I just used them to make these jammers, and they worked beautifully. I found they needed a couple of additional minutes' baking time. Good luck!
Linn November 5, 2012
Just wondering if you have ever considered listing ingredients in gram weights?
Linn November 5, 2012
Just wondered if you have ever considered listing ingredients in gram weights?
Linn November 5, 2012
Just wondered if you have ever considered listing ingredients in gram weights?
doriegreenspan October 25, 2012
Maddogoday-I suggest dutch-processed cocoa for this recipe. Happy Baking!
maddogoday October 16, 2012
I have tried to post this as a question but it is not posting. Do you suggest using natural or dutch-processed chocolate?
Elsie P. October 16, 2012
I have wanted to make these cookies since you first mentioned them on your site.
You are really special to share this unique cookie recipe. As a 50-year cookie baker -
I shall try them right now! (As mentioned on your site, the metal rings would be
available for purchase soon. I am interested in buying them but I could not find
a telephone number for Beurre & Sel.) Living in California, it is impossible for
me to walk into your boutique. I know that many of your followers would like to
know how to obtain them. Best of all wishes in your new cookie business.
laerm October 15, 2012
This looks like a wonderful recipe but it needs to be better written. The ingredients for cranberries, dough, streusel, and jam mixture should be four separate headings, and then broken apart more clearly in the instructions.
chef H. October 14, 2012
this recipe says the yield is 30 cookies. i'm confused as to how the measurements work together: cutting 2" discs sounds more like mini-cakes, and using one 12-muffin pan would seem to yield batches by the dozen...thanks for any clarification. other than that, it sounds delicious!
hardlikearmour October 11, 2012
Thanks for sharing this! It looks delectable on the video you shot with A&M. It will definitely be one of my Christmas cookies this year.