This past week my cousin told me about a Valentine's Day bake-off that her office is having. Being that my love for baking is quite evident, she thought it was something I'd be interested in. And she was right. Since the rules state that you can enter up to 2 items I decided to do just that. I whipped up a batch of banana chocolate chip blondies and special Valentine's Day themed cookies.
Although I love the banana blondies and I know how much everybody else loves them, I am really proud of these cookie sandwiches. Unlike the blondies that I have made hundreds of (literally) I have never made these cookies. They look cute and taste even better! OH and super simple to make!
Shortbread Cookie Sandwiches with Raspberry Filling
INGREDIENTS (Recipe adapted from JoyofBaking.com)
This recipe should be done ahead of time to allow dough to chill for at least 1 hour.
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Beat butter until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, beating in slowly (just because you the powdered sugar to stay in the bowl, not fly out and land on the counter ... or on you).
- Beat the butter and sugar until it is completely combined and smooth.
- Next, add the vanilla extract.
- Slowly, add the flour (easiest if you add the flour in 2 or 3 batches). Beat in the flour until the mixture has completely come together, making sure not to over beat. Should be less than 1 minute.
- Gather dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (can even be done over night).
- Once chilled, use 1/2 of the dough and put the remaining half back in the fridge to chill.
- Lightly dust the dough with flour, to ensure that the it does not stick when being rolled out.
- Place the dough between two sheets of wax paper and roll until it is about 1/4in thick.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut out the dough and place on a lined baking sheet about an inch apart. Then place it back in the fridge for about 10minutes before baking. This will allow the dough to firm up.
- Then bake at 350degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes (depending on the thickness of your cookie).
- They are done when the edges are a light brown.
- Repeat with the remaining half of the dough.
- To make the cookie sandwiches, cut out the same amount of top and bottom cookies. To create a 'window' for the top cookie, place the cut out cookies on the baking sheet first! Then take a smaller cookie cutter and cut out a window. Removing the little cookie center that you just made. It is best to do this on the baking sheet because you are less likely to break the cookie. I discovered that after breaking 3 cookies in a row because it was too fragile to transfer from table to sheet. Once your cookies are baked and cool, dust powdered sugar on the top cookies only. Add a small dollop of raspberry jam (I used seedless just for aesthetic reasons) to the bottom cookie. Spread the jam, leaving some space near the edges. Then carefully place the top cookie, trying not to get the powdered sugar onto the jam. When sandwiching the cookies together, try not to apply too much pressure or the jam will ooze out the sides (which is why you should try not to spread the jam to the edges of the cookie). And that's it! Once you're done marveling at how cute they are, because they really are, you can eat a whole bunch. They're kind of addicting!
happy valentine's day!
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