Jam Fills My Heart

Strawberry Jam Sandwich Cookies  

Will you be my Valentine? With the big V Day coming up I wanted to make something playful, sweet and of course heart shaped! 😉 I had some left over buttermilk in the fridge from a cake and some pancakes I made earlier that week and I really wanted to use it up! I hate wasting food and in a way that’s an awesome thing because it forces me to come up with new and interesting things to make in order to use up the contents of my fridge and pantry 🙂 So for this buttermilk I decided a simple sugar cookie seemed to be the right choice and to punch the flavor up a bit a few spoonfuls of strawberry jam and the fresh zest of an orange definitely dose the trick! What is most fun about these treats is absolutely their shape! A zippy jam filled sugar cookie sandwich with a heart cut out I think screams Valentine’s Day don’t you?            

Cookies

1 stick unsalted butter, soften

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoons salt

½ cup buttermilk

1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Filling

1 cup strawberry jam

The zest of 1 large orange

¼ teaspoon salt

This makes about 12 jam filled sandwich cookies.

Instructions

Start by beating your butter and sugar together using an electric mixer. Once that is nice and creamed add the egg, vanilla and buttermilk and mix until well combined then set aside. Next in another bowl sift the flour, baking soda and salt together then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients one third at a time and mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix! Once the dough comes together wrap it in plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge to rest for at least one hour.

Next preheat your oven to 350º. Then after your dough has rested plop it on a well-floured board and cut it in half. Then roll the dough out one half at a time to about ¼ inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut your shapes out I used a 3 inch round cutter with a scalloped edge and a 1 inch heart cutter to make these cute sandwich shapes perfect for Valentin’s Day 😉 If you decide to do this just be sure you have the same number of whole round cookies as ones with heart cut outs.

Then place your cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 14 minutes rotate them half way through the cooking time.

While you are waiting for your cookies to bake let’s start the simple filling. In a small sauce pot add your jam, orange zest and salt and let this come to a slow boil, use a whisk to bring everything together. Once the jam is at a boil remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool.

When your cookies are done baking place them on a cooling rack. Once they are nice and cool it’s time to assemble your sandwich cookies 😉 Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the jam on the flat side of the round cookie then top with heart cut out cookie press them together and voilà! The prefect little sandwich cookie for V Day!

Top with a little dusting of powdered sugar for some extra sweetness!

I hope your Valentine’s Day brings you lots of Love and Sweets!