Amen! To add insult to injury, manufacturers dilute the flavor even more by using concentrated apple or grape juice in place of the main fruit. Unfortunately, US food labeling laws are very lax (compared to those of other countries), so this is perfectly legal. It's no wonder that these products have no flavor. The only problem with making your own is that it's so difficult to buy fruit that has any flavor (at least here in Massachusetts, which has lost most of it agriculture). Here is a link that might be useful: Label Watch - Commerical Jelly Ingredients

These are excellent and quite pretty on a plate. Alexa *********************************************************** Holly Berry Cookies Servings: 12 Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter, chilled 1 egg 1/4 cup milk 2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam 2 cups confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons milk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup cinnamon red hot candies 4 drops green food coloring Directions: 1. In a large bowl combine the flour, white sugar, ground cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl beat the egg and 1/4 cup of milk. Add this to the crumb mixture until the dough is moistened. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 3. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut with a 2 inch round cookie cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheets. 4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Once cool spread jam on half of the cookies then top each with another cookie. 5. To Make Glaze: Combine the confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla until smooth. Spread glaze over the cookie and decorate with red cinnamon candy before the glaze is set. Let dry. Using a small new paintbrush and green food coloring, paint holly leaves on cookies.

Jane, someone wrote to me and asked the same thing. I haven't tried that, but I ran across a recipe from a Sunset magazine that is similar, but with orange instead of lemon and with dried cranberries. The recipe was the winner of a Sunset cookie bake-off contest so it must be very good. Dried cranberries are good in muffins, so why not cookies. I doubt it would spoil the taste at all. If you try it please let us know how they turn out. Jen

It was in the link, but I put it here for you. Butter Cream Frosting for Sugar Cookies 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick) 1 box 10X powered sugar (around 3 cups if using a bulk bag) 1 tsp vanilla flavoring 2 to 3 TBS milk Food coloring Sugar sprinkles (for after the cookies are frosted) Directions: Again, let the butter/margarine sit out and soften. That makes mixing much easier, and it¡¦s also easier to get the correct consistency when adding the milk. If the butter is cold, then it gets too thin as it warms up. If this does happen, just add a little more powdered sugar. Cream the butter and powdered sugar putting in about a half cup of powdered sugar at time. If the powdered sugar looks pretty lumpy, it¡¦s a good idea to sift it, so you don¡¦t have sugar balls in the frosting. Mix well. Add the vanilla. Mix. Add around 1 TBS of milk and mix. Continue adding a tsp or so until the frosting is the right consistency for spreading. If you discover you¡¦ve made it too thin, stir in a little sugar. If it¡¦s too thick or starts to get too thick as you decorate add just a tiny bit more milk and stir. Add a couple of drops of food coloring and mix if you want a single color batch. It¡¦s more fun, however, to divide the frosting into small bowls and let everyone make a color. Be warned that some people (mostly boys) will put in all the colors and make ugly brown frosting. It still tastes great. And, this really is about having fun. If you want sugar sprinkles, then take some regular table sugar. Put a 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so in a zip lock bag. Add a little squirt of food coloring. Squeeze the bag until the sugar is all colored. It's fun also to divide the sugar out and make various colors like with the frosting. Sprinkle on the colored sugar. You may need to very lightly tap the sugar on top of the frosting if the frosting is starting to set. If you want the sugar sprinkles but not buttercream frosting, then make up the colored sugar and pat that on before baking the sugar cookies. If you try to put colored sugar on cookies without frosting after they're baked, the sugar will not stick.