Ube cookies are one of my childhood favorite cookies. My grandmom (who is an awesome baker) used to make them for us as a snack and dessert. I always share this with my friends whenever they will a sleepover at our house. Ube or purple yam is a root crop that grows abundantly in Southeast Asian countries. It is large and purple in color. It also has a velvety and sweet taste. There are other ube recipes that you can find in the internet, most of them are desserts.
We just had a great family adventure in Baguio City last summer and I could not resist buying a jar of the very popular Ube Jam from a souvenir shop. This is insanely delicious! I could finish eating this in one sitting, but of course I did not... I have to share it my husband who also has a sweet tooth. This jam is made with fresh ube that are boiled and mashed, milk and sugar is then added. It is cooked in low fire for about 2 hours until thick. The nuns and other lay persons in Baguio City make this jam for a living. They also make other mouth-watering food products such as strawberry jams and meringue cookies just to name a few. 
Well the label says, "keep refrigerated" that is because this product is highly perishable once opened. Since it has no preservatives, you have to consume it within 3 days or else you will end up with a moldy jam.
I bet you already saw that prep time takes about an a half. You want your cookie dough to be firm. Roll the cookie dough in your hands tends to melt the butter in the cookies thus making them look flat when baked. I think this principle applies to most cookie recipes. You can also leave the cookie dough in the chiller overnight if you caught yourself being lazy to bake what you have already made. It happens to me all the time.. haha!
So, here is the recipe.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and smooth.
Then add in the eggs, milk, vanilla and ube flavoring. Mix on low speed for about a minute or until everything is well-blended.
Add in the ube jam and mix well. (I could not resist eating the left-over ube jam on the measuring cup, I swear it is so tempting!)
Gradually mix in the sifted dry ingredients and blend well until no streaks of flour is seen.
So the cookie dough looks something like this. Chill or freeze this until firm.
Roll out a 1 inch size ball. You can use an ice cream scooper if you want uniform sizes of cookies.
Dredge them into the powdered sugar.
Bake these lovelies in the preheated oven and continue eating the ube jam while waiting.
I always have the first bite! Yummy!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/4 cup ube jam
- 1/2 teaspoon ube food flavoring
- Powdered sugar for dusting and rolling
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar (white/granulated)
Directions
- 1In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
- 2Add in the egg and beat well. Stir in the vanilla extract, milk, ube flavoring food and ube jam. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes.
- 3Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt.
- 4Freeze the cookie batter for one hour or until the batter is firm. Roll into balls and dredge into the powdered sugar.
- 5Bake at a 375 degree Fahrenheit preheated oven for 20 minutes. Let cool and serve.
