Strawberry Jam Sandwich Cookies
Here, delicate, butter-rich cookies sandwich strawberry jam for a teatime treat or a delectable gift during the winter holidays. For an even prettier presentation, use a second, smaller cookie cutter to cut a window in the top of each cookie before baking to allow the colorful jam to show. You can use any flavor of fruit jam.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups (11 1/2 oz./360 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (1 oz./30 g) cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) (6 oz./185 g) unsalted butter, at room
temperature - 1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
- 1 cup (8 oz./250 g) granulated sugar
- 1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
- About 2 cups (1 1/4 lb./625 g) strawberry or other fruit jam
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
Directions:
In a bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch and salt.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat together the butter and lemon zest until light. Add the granulated sugar and beat until completely incorporated. Add the whole egg and egg yolk and beat until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Gather the dough into a ball and divide into thirds. Flatten each third into a disk. Wrap separately in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
Dust 1 dough disk with flour and place between 2 large sheets of waxed paper. Roll out the dough 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Using a 3-inch (7.5-cm) decoratively shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1/2 inch (12 mm) apart. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Gather the dough scraps into a ball, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate.
Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and let cool. Repeat with the remaining 2 disks, then roll out, cut, chill and bake the scraps in the same manner.
Spread the jam on the bottoms of half of the cookies, spreading it lightly at the edges. Top with the remaining cookies, bottoms down. Dust the tops with confectioners’ sugar. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Adapted from The Art of Preserving, by Lisa Atwood, Rebecca Courchesne & Rick Field (Weldon Owen, 2010).