STEPHANIE'S SLICE OF LIFE

Let me just start by saying that these cookies are one of the best cookies I have ever had. Unbelievably good. So good that when my daughter and I tasted the first batch we both looked at each other while chewing and said maybe we should just eat them all and not give them out. We were joking, kind of, maybe not actually. We had restraint, however, and only ate a few while saving the rest to give out to family and friends.

The nice thing about this recipe is they don’t have to be made as sandwich cookies. You can just bake the shortbread in any shape you would like and either eat them plain, or dip part of them in chocolate. Whichever way you decide to make them they will just melt in your mouth.

Ingredients:

3 sticks of butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp. salt

Raspberry jam or preserves

Confectioner’s sugar

In a large mixing bowl combine the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined.

Add the vanilla and mix until combined.

Sift together the flour and salt in a small bowl and gradually add to the butter mixture while beating on low speed until combined.

Now this is where the recipe gets a little tricky. As you can see, it doesn’t look very combined or together for that matter. However, it is right and how it should be.

Start squeezing together handfuls of the dough and put them on a lightly floured board. The dough will come together with time but you need to work at it with your hands.

As you can see after a few minutes and a little patience the shortbread dough came together and looks great.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Using a section of the dough at a time, roll out on a lightly floured board until about 1/4″ thick and cut into shapes.

If you are making the sandwich cookies, you can either use all solid shapes or you can cut a shape in the center of the cookie for the jam to show. Place the cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for around 8 minutes for the cookies with holes, and around 10 minutes for the solid cookies. Keep an eye on them and they are done when they are slightly brown.

While the photo shows the two cookies together on the cookie sheet, don’t bake them together as they really do have different cooking times.

Let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or so and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cool spread jam on the flat side of the bottom cookie. Spread lightly on the edges and leave more in the center for where the hole will be.

Sprinkle confectioner’s sugar on the top cookie then place on top of the jam covered bottom cookie.

Now the most important thing is trying to stop yourself from eating them all. Trust me, it isn’t easy.