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I'm trying to bake a kind of cookies in an oven at 400°F and I need a fruity tasting filling that wouldn't melt at this temp. Any advice?

P.S. Just for reference, the original Russian recipe uses a thing called "povidlo" which is a kind of hard marmalade that you can cut with a knife.

isagalaev
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    Does the filling go completely inside the cookies? You can make [thumbprint cookies](https://www.google.com/search?q=thumbprint+cookies&tbm=isch) with any kind of jam, no need for it to be extra hard, but it does help that it's exposed. – Cascabel Dec 24 '15 at 21:29
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    Sounds somewhat like fruit leather. Is the cookie such that the filling really needs not to go liquid, though? Most contain the filling in dough so that it stays inside while baking, even if it liquifies. The style Jefromi mentions tend to "stiffen up" the jam filling in the as-baked, cooled state .vs. where it starts (since some evaporation takes place while cooking) but the filling is quite liquid while cooking. – Ecnerwal Dec 24 '15 at 22:46
  • I know Powidl as the Austrian term for a dense, reduced plum jam, sometimes spiced. Are we talking about the same? – Stephie Dec 25 '15 at 08:53
  • The dough is wrapped around a small stick of filling in a croissant-like tube shape, and the sides remain open. Stephi, it's pretty much the same thing, although in Russia it's usually made from apples. I couldn't find it in stores (U.S.) and I didn't want to bother with reducing it at home. – isagalaev Dec 26 '15 at 00:35

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This question dates from the end of 2015 but perhaps my answer might prove useful to other readers.

I imagine any homogenized jam would be suitable after drying out sufficiently. Reducing a jam on the stove top could be tedious with constant stirring to prevent burning. But it should be an easy matter to do in the oven.

If the jam was evenly spread in a rectangular baking pan with parchment paper on the bottom and sides (for easy removal), the desired consistency shouldn't be hard to get. Drying would need to be done fairly slowly so it would dry out evenly and not leave a wetter middle layer.

I can't say what temperature but I'd guess no more than 200°F (95°C). I'd try a small test batch first to see what the difference in thickness is after drying and how long it takes. If anyone tries this, I'd love to hear results with pertinent data, please.

Jude
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  • Yes, I later learned this is pretty much how the original thing is done: boil with water on the stove top until breaks down and gets to jam consistency, and then move it onto a flat pan in the oven to finish at 100°C. – isagalaev Apr 03 '17 at 17:43
  • So did your cookies turn out well? They sound good and if there's a name for them or a link to a recipe, I'd appreciate you giving it. Wouldn't mind trying them before the weather gets too hot and I bake only out of necessity. – Jude Apr 03 '17 at 18:43
  • I haven't done them since then, in fact. But you may just made me ashamed enough to actually do it this week :-) I need a lot of apples! There's no link for the recipe, unfortunately, it's one of those things my grandma did and she called it a name I never heard from anyone… – isagalaev Apr 05 '17 at 16:27
  • @isagalaev Are they similar to kolacky? I've been searching as the cookies sound good and I'd like to make some. Read that there are many variations of these made around the Balkan area. Some are rolled (like a tube) with filling showing at both ends. Apples in the supermarket here are pricey but in a nearby town, right next to the Vietnamese grocery I shop at, they've got big bins of apples less than half the price of other stores. I usually buy a few big bags and make applesauce that I freeze. I could use them to make apple povidlo. Let me know if the recipe looks similar, please? – Jude Apr 06 '17 at 02:31
  • I finally did it! https://www.flickr.com/photos/isagalaev/33387939524/in/dateposted/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/isagalaev/33391848794/in/dateposted/. @Jude your description looks similar but I can't be sure: the name varies even across families, let alone cities or countries :-) – isagalaev Apr 28 '17 at 06:21