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Pasta Frolla (Italian for “short pastry”) is a pastry dough that is used in many Italian recipes. It’s rich and buttery with a hint of lemon. While it’s often used in sweet recipes – like today’s Pasta Frolla Christmas Jam Cookies (as well as this recipe) – it can also be used in savory recipes that call for a shortbread crust!
Either way – pasta frolla is wonderfully versatile, delicious and very simple to make! Unlike many shortbread recipes where cold butter is cut in to form the dough, in pasta frolla the butter is softened and creamed so it mixes up quickly and easily!
We used pasta frolla today as the base for these delicious Christmas Jam Cookies! It’s a recipe that we adapted from one that Jack and I brought back after our honeymoon in Italy.
After you mix the dough, it’s rolled into a log and chilled until firm. Then the log is sliced – and similar to a “thumbprint” cookie – an indentation is formed in the middle of the cookie by pressing down with your thumb, then fill the indentation with a spoon of your favorite jam (we used our Christmas Jam recipe) and bake!
Once these sweet, crisp jam-filled shortbread cookies are baked and cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
The pasta frolla dough can be made in advance and kept tightly-wrapped in the refrigerated for a few days – or you can even freeze it for about a month.
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Pasta Frolla Christmas Jam Cookies
Ingredients
For the Dough:
2 sticks butter (1 cup or 16 tablespoons), softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
Zest from one whole lemon
4 cups flour
For Garnish:
1/2 to 1 cup Christmas Jam or other berry jam
Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter then add both sugars and salt. Cream until fluffy, about two minutes.
- With mixer on low, add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time until mixed.
- Add vanilla and zest and mix again.
- With mixer on low, add each cup of flour until combined.
- Remove from bowl and knead by hand for about a minute.
- Refrigerate dough wrapped in plastic for up to three days or at least for two hours.
- Assuming you will only be baking 18-24 cookies, remove dough, cut in half and refrigerate other half for another recipe (like this one), or freeze for up to a month.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- On lightly floured surface, flatten and work dough so that it becomes soft and pliable but not warm.
- Roll into a log and either cut into 18 or 24 pieces depending on how large you want the cookies. For 18, cut log in half. Cut each half in thirds and each third in thirds. For 24, cut log in half, each half in half, each quarter in half, then each piece in thirds. An 18 count cookie will be about 2-2 1/2 inches.
- Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper
- Roll each dough piece into a ball then press down with the palm of your hand. With your thumb, make an indentation into the center of each then lay out on the sheet pans.
- With a teaspoon, fill each indentation with Christmas Jam, being careful not to fill too high.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes (depending on the size) until lightly golden.
- Remove to a cooling rack.
- Once cool, dust with powdered sugar.
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Notes
This pastry dough can be used in a variety of recipes including cookies or for a tart.
As written, the ingredients list will give you enough dough to bake between 36-48 cookies depending on thickness. Feel free to cut the recipe in half if you’d like to make fewer (18-24) cookies – OR make the full dough amount and save half in the freezer for another recipe.
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Perfectly beautiful cookies for Christmas! I was thinking at the beginning of the post how much they remind me of the thumbprint cookies I used to make every year and then you mentioned them! I’m taking it as a sign that I should be making these 🙂
I hope you enjoy the cookies Lana!
You and Ashley are making me A. Hungry and B. Feeling like a bad Italian. I haven’t made any of the old world cookies yet this year. 🙁
Ah – but Jessica – you made Carpaccio! That far outweighs our cookies! 🙂 Thanks for visiting today!
When you say a stick of butter how much is that 4 oz. or 8oz.
Hi Lina – My apologies for not being more specific in the recipe. A stick of butter is 4 ounces – 1/2 cup – or 8 tablespoons!
I think I just found a new cookie to make! Great photos 🙂
Thanks Heather!
These are lovely! I really want to try making this dough, it sounds amazing, and I love that it’s so versatile. Plus, that Christmas Jam – gorgeous!
We are twins with our Italian cookie recipes today!! I love it! I had forgotten about these gems.
We ARE Ashley!! When it comes to recipes like this, I’m so glad I married an Italian guy!:-)
The pretty colors of the jam against the white cookie is perfect for Christmas!
We used to have some jam-filled cookies at Christmastime when I was a kid and they were always my favorite. I haven’t thought about those for years! So thank you – your post is inspiring me to make them again.
Hello a Family Feast! These cookies look absolutely delightful =) And it makes 48 cookies….that’s a lot. Perfect for our church together luncheon this Sunday. Thanks for sharing. SO pretty.
And guess what…!?! I won your New World Pasta No Yolks contest, thank you so much! Very excited. Perfect in time for Christmas.
Yay Laura!! So happy for you!! And I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Thumbprint cookies are one of my favorites for the holidays. I love these…and that homemade Christmas jam!