Okay, because I don’t want to work on any of my school stuff yet, I’m going to procrastinate and put up another post! Yay!! 😀
I know it’s not Valentine’s day, but it’s always nice to put some extra effort into the presentation in baking right?? I wanted to make these as a surprise for the boyfriend. I’m glad he has a sweet tooth cuz I get to bake anything I want and he would eat it happily. 🙂 These cookies took a while to make because my dough keep warming up after I tried flattening them out with my hand (I didn’t have a rolling pin :() and so the dough kept sticking and breaking, especially the cutout ones, so I had to constantly refrigerate them.
All the effort paid off because they came out great, they taste great, and it was super fun filling them in with some extra goodness to make a sandwich cookie! I used jarred strawberry preserves because I was too lazy to make my own. 😛 But feel free to follow the link and make your own! The recipe also had white chocolate layer as well!
Sprinkling anything with powdered sugar brings it to a whole new level and gives it a great finesse! 🙂
Happy baking!
Heart-Shaped Shortbread Cookies with Strawberry Jam
adapted from joyofbaking.com
Shortbreads:
- 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing)sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- jarred strawberry jam or preserves
- powdered sugar for dusting
cream filling
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon cream cheese
- powdered sugar
Directions
Shortbreads:Â In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt.Â
In the bowl, beat the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour. Â
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch (1 cm) thick. Using a 2 to 3 inch (5 to 7.5 cm) cookie cutter (round, square, heart, etc.) cut out the dough. Place the cookies about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a smaller cookie cutter (3/4 – 1 inch (2.5 cm)) to cut out the centers of half of the cookies on the baking sheet. (You will be sandwiching two cookies together and there will be a small ‘window or cut out’ in the top cookie so you can see the jam underneath.) Place the unbaked cookies, on the baking sheet, in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for about10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
To Assemble Cookies: Place the cookies with the cut-outs on a wire rack and dust the tops with the confectioners’ (powdered or icing) sugar.
On the bottom surface of the full cookie (top of cookie will face out) spread with jam. Place the cut-out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together, making sure not to smug the confectioners’ sugar.Â
To make a cream-filled cookie sandwich, simply mix all the ingredients together until a smooth, creamy consistency forms and spread it over the bottom of one cookie. Place another cookie gently on top to create the sandwich.
Makes about 12 sandwich cookies.
Note: You can store the unassembled cookies for several days in an airtight container. It is best, though, to assemble the cookies the same day as serving in order to keep the cookies crisp.