Trays of cookies waiting to be eaten! Yum!
While assembling, it is easiest to set the cookies on trays.
Either your clean cookie sheets, or the serving tray.
The softened butter and flour comes
together very easily. Using either a pastry blender, or your fingers.
Beat the eggs and sugar until pale yellow,
frothy and smooth.
With a rubber spatula, gently bring together the flour and egg
mixture until a dough mass forms.
I thought the dough was a bit soft, so I added another
1/2 cup of flour and I refrigerated it for an hour,
so that it would be easier to work with when rolling.
Using only 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll the dough into
1/8 inch thickness and cut with any shape
cookie cutter you have on hand.
I used a circle because that is traditional, but a heart,
a crescent or any other geometric shape would be fine.
Just remembering the you need a shape that is easy to duplicate
when pairing the two halves filled with jam.
Lay the cut dough onto parchment paper.
Bake the cookies just until golden. They brown quickly,
so watch your oven carefully.
I baked these for only 5 1/2 minutes in my oven.
I was gifted this yummy set of jams, and I decided to use this
for filling my cookies, so I would have a wide variety of
flavors and not every cookie would be the same!
Spread the jam filling all the way to the edges.
Continue filling all cookies, and lay them out in
a single layer. Once they are all filled,
proceed to sugaring them.
I used a large bowl filled with powdered sugar to coat
the outside of each cookie.
What a fun way to put a big smile on a lot of faces!
I baked all the cookies in the evening and stored them in an
airtight container. In the morning, it is easy to work with the cooled, stable
cookies, just filling with jam and coating with sugar.
As Always,
ENJOY!
Recipe Source: Natasha's Kitchen
- 3 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour(I added an additional 1/2 cup)
- 2 sticks 16 Tbsp Unsalted butter, softened to room temp
- 2 large eggs room temp
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp white vinegar
- 2 Tbsp liquid honey
- 9 oz jar of your favorite jam or a variety of jams.
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar( put at least 1 cup in a large bowl for easier sugar coating)
Line a large cookie pan with parchment paper
In a large mixing bowl, add 3 cups + 2 Tbsp flour and 2 sticks softened butter and mix the dough together with your hands. Rub the dough between your fingers until it becomes a sandy texture with fine crumbles. A pastry blender can also be used, but not an electric mixer.
In a separate mixing bowl, add 2 eggs and 1 cup sugar and mix on high speed 5 minutes until pale yellow and smooth. Pour this mixture over the flour and mix gently with a spatula just until well incorporated.
In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp vinegar and stir until well combined. Pour soda mixture into the cookie batter along with 2 Tbsp of liquid honey and mix it into the dough well with a spatula. When it's done, your dough should form into 1 mass. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest at room temp for 30 min. (I placed my dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour because it was very soft.)
Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll out one piece at a time keeping the rest of the dough covered at room temp. Sprinkle a clean non-stick surface and your piece of dough generously with flour and roll it out to an 1/8" thick round. If your dough is sticky when rolling, just add more flour. Use any shape of cookie cutter you like to cut out shapes. Transfer cookie shapes to a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps and blend them back into your remaining dough.
Poke a hole in half of your cookies ( I chose to leave both sides the same, without a hole)
Bake at 350˚F for 5-8 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Watch them closely since they turn golden quickly. Remove from the oven and let them cool to room temp.
Once the cookies are room temp, spread your jam onto the base of the cookie and top with a cookie. Press the sides together, then dip both sides in powdered sugar.
