Chocolate Strawberry Linzer Shortbread Cookies
Valentine’s Day is my jam. I know it’s cool to hate this holiday, and that’s fair. It is corporate and sappy and all that stuff. But it’s also nice to pause and do something nice for the people you love and tell them that you love them, especially when it’s with food. And extra especially when that food is really easy but looks impressive.
These cookies are just that— really pretty, really easy, and really tasty. You can use whatever jam you like (raspberry is a great choice here too), and you can make this recipe in multiple steps over several days if you don’t have a lot of time at once. You can definitely double the recipe if you’re baking for a crowd, but this is a nice small batch for just your pandemic pod.
Recipe
Yield: 10 3-inch linzer cookies, plus mini cut outs
Ingredients
½ pound (226g) unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
½ cup (75g) powdered sugar , plus more for dusting
¼ cup (20g) cocoa powder
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
½ cup strawberry jam
Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the butter, salt, and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the cocoa powder and flour until the dough just comes together. Don’t overmix!
Turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper and shape it into a rough rectangle. Place another sheet of parchment on top and roll the dough out until it’s about ⅛ inch thick. If you have too much dough for one sheet of parchment, you can divide the dough in half and do this over two sheets.
Refrigerate the sheet(s) of dough for about 3 hours, or freeze for 45 minutes to an hour until totally chilled. You can leave the dough for 1-2 days in the fridge or freezer if you need to, just let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before cutting if the dough is frozen.
When the dough is chilled and you’re ready to bake, first preheat the oven to 275F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Next, cut out the dough using your chosen cookie cutter. Then, for half of the cookies, cut out the centers with a complementary cutter. You can choose a smaller version of the same shape or a totally different one, as long as it’s smaller so the jam will show through.
If you have leftover dough scraps, you can re-roll them and chill one more time then re-cut. If you need to do it twice, don’t sweat it, but they may be a little tougher.
Once you’ve cut them out, place the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. If possible, chill them down again, especially if you’re working in a warm room. You can also pop them in a freezer safe container and bake them later.
Bake until the cookies are just set, approximately 25 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool for about 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling, place the jam in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup and heat for about 30 seconds, then stir to break up any big pieces of strawberry. You can transfer the jam to a piping bag if you’d like, or just spoon it onto the cookies once they’re cool.
When the cookies are cool, place about 2 teaspoons of jam on each of the cookies without the cutout centers, then sandwich a cookie with the cut out center on top.
When you’ve sandwiched all the cookies, dust with powdered sugar if desired.
The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, but you may need to re-dust them with powdered sugar before serving.
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