When I was a kid, we had a big, ceramic cookie jar on the counter. It was shaped like a mushroom, with the jar lid being the mushroom cap and the body of the jar was being the stem of the mushroom.

I have no idea where that jar ended up, or what its fate was, but I remember it fondly as it was almost always full.

My mom always made sure there were cookies in there to dip in your espresso (or, in the case of my brother and I since we were just children, milk with a few drops of espresso).

Of course the cookies in that jar weren’t the store-bought kind but rather the homemade kind. I remember sometimes feeling resentful because I wanted my fair share of Oreos, but now that I’m older, I’m just glad that we had that cookie jar full of cookies.

While I enjoy all baking, I will always enjoy the cookies the most. They’re in my heart and I have such a weakness for any cookie recipe that catches my eye.

It may take me awhile to get to it, but rest assured that I will.

I first saw the recipe for Bow Tie Cookies with Apricot Preserves two Christmases ago. The recipe has been filed away in the cookie book in my mind and I finally got around to trying them.

Love.

The dough for these cookies is a variation on the butter/cream cheese style of dough but interestingly, there is no sugar in the dough. The sweetness comes entirely from the preserves. I enjoyed the cookies because they weren’t too sweet and the tang of the cream cheese pairs well with the sweetness of the preserves.

Like all cream cheese doughs, though, these cookies lose their flakiness after a day or two so it’s best to eat them quickly.

Not that I expect that to be a huge problem.

I hope you try these and I hope you’re inspired to keep a cookie jar on your counter.