Heart Shaped Jelly Filled Cookies
These cookies are better than the well known Linzer Cookie I hope you give these a try.
Ingredients for cookie:
2 cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter
½ cup powdered sugar (confectioners)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Filling:
1/4-1/2 cup raspberry jam or homemade raspberry preserves (recipe to follow)
2 ounces white chocolate (grated)
Homemade Raspberry Preserves *optional this preserve is easy to make and the taste well worth the extra step.
2 cups (8ounces) frozen raspberries, unsweetened
¼ cup granulated white sugar
A few drops of fresh lemon juice
Place the frozen unsweetened raspberries and the sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporate being careful not to let it burn. Remove from the heat and pour into a heatproof measuring cup. You should have almost a cup of preserves. Add a drop or two of the lemon juice. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few days before using to allow the flavors to blend together.
Directions:
In a bowl beat the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and again beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract, then gently stir in the flour and salt just until incorporated. Flatten the dough to a disk shape and wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour in the refrigerator.
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees: Keeping the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly flour surface roll out the dough until it’s about ¼ in. thick. Using a 2 to 3 inch cookie cutter (round, square or heart shaped) cut into dough. Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a smaller cookie cutter (3/4 to 1 inch) to cut out the centers of half the cookies on the baking sheets. (You will be sandwiching two cookies 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 in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly colored. Cool on wire rack.
To assemble the cookies: Place the cookies with the cutouts on a wire rack and sprinkle the top with the some confectioners sugar. On the bottom surface of the full cookie, spread with about a ¼ to ½ tsp. of the jam, sprinkle some grated white chocolate. Place the cut out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together, making sure not to smudge the confectioners sugar. Using a small spoon, fill the cut-out with a little more jam.
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 to keep the cookies crisp.
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