Shortbread Hearts

Shortbreads are traditionally made with sugar, butter and flour, and one of the easiest cookies to make. Generally they are baked at low temperatures, and when cooked, they are nearly white or a very light golden brown in color.

I made these sandwich cookies for valentine's day - they are not too sweet, buttery and melt in your mouth kinds. My kids loved it and so did I!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (~200 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry/raspberry jam (I used a mixed fruit jam)

Method:

In a bowl whisk the flour with the salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), 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 mixed. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line baking sheet 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 apart on the prepared baking sheet. Use a smaller cookie cutter 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 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 about 12 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned. Place the cookies with the cut-outs on a wire rack and dust the tops with the confectioners sugar. Cool on a wire rack.


To Assemble Cookies:

On the bottom surface of the full cookie, spread about a 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Place the cut-out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together, making sure not to smug the confectioners sugar. Using a small spoon, fill the cut-out with a little more jam.

Makes about 10 sandwich cookies.