Wild Strawberry Whirls

Our last week baking day result. These were delicious, even if not very healthy. Please note that I am choosing recipes for our baking days based on how easy it is to make with a toddler helper, so usually they are very very basic but I thought may be people with toddlers of their own would like to follow our lead. Letting your child into the kitchen is so good for them - it teaches them valuable skills such as pouring, measuring, scooping and mixing, they experience different textures, smells and tastes and they grow to be your real helpers! Note the look of self-importance and concentration on Kitten's face. She loves cooking with me! So, here is the recipe.
Ingredients (makes 12):
1 cup softened butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
few drops almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
jam (you can use any fairly homogenous jam, I had wild strawberry)
Preheat oven to 350F. Beat butter with powdered sugar and almond extract until creamy, add flour and beat until smooth.

Arrange 12 paper cupcake cups in a muffin pan.

Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe whirls into paper cups leaving a slight hollow in the center. Very important! I did not have a large star tip and it was SO hard to pipe, the batter is pretty thick. I ended up using the largest round tip that I had and it was still difficult, good thing I had my sister over to finish the second half for me! Bake for 20 minutes until set and very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Put a little (or a lot of) jam in centers. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.