Sandwich cookies with raspberry jam and lemon curd

April 27, 2015 Published by Dina

Here is what I do late at night when I get the urge to get into the kitchen: bake cookies. Actually, not completely true. Here is “a day in the life” of yours truly. I made the dough in the morning but couldn’t bake it right away because we went to see an incredible ballet performance of Swan Lake by the Royal Ballet from London, broadcasted to over 1000 theatres worldwide. The phenomenal performance of the classic ballet with strength and grace, fluidity and structure was so captivating that we were riveted the entire 4 hours. After the performance my husband went sailing on his beloved Isa Lei and I met up with my foodie friends to attend a final culinary class at Mission Hill winery, celebrating the release of their Estate Legacy series, paring these four newly released wines with food. The class was taught by Winery Chef Chris Stewart and wine notes provided by Ingo Grady, director of wine education at the winery. Busy day and night and still, I was in the mood to bake when I got back. I must be a foodie. I wanted to bake the cookies so they were ready to assemble in the morning and take to a family luncheon early this afternoon. I won’t admit that I am going to brunch with our foodie gal group at a new local resto before the family luncheon. Don’t tell anyone.


Sandwich cookies with raspberry jam and lemon cream

Sandwich cookies with raspberry jam and lemon cream


The cookie dough is very easy to make and quite forgiving when you roll it. If you make the dough ahead and refrigerate it, bring it out of the fridge to soften before you roll it. For the filling I use good quality raspberry jam and lemon curd that I buy at a local bakery.


Ingredients:


1 1/2 sticks butter

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup ground almonds or hazelnuts

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup raspberry jam

1/2 cup lemon curd (bought a jar)

Confectioners sugar for dusting


Directions:


Place the butter in the bowl of a mixer and mix for a couple of minutes to soften. Add yolk, sugar, orange zest and vanilla and mix 3 minutes or so until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the flour and ground nuts and continue mixing first on low then on medium speed until the batter is nicely combined. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl down a couple of times.

When done use a spatula to scrape the dough onto a parchment paper. Form the dough into a rectangle, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about an hour to firm up.

When ready to proceed cut the dough in half (keeping one half cool until) and roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper (it helps because the dough is soft and tends to stick to the rolling pin). You can sprinkle it a little with confectioners sugar or a light dusting of flour to help with the stickiness. Roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut the cookies into equal size rounds with a cookie cutter.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet spacing them about 1 inch apart (they don’t spread)and bake at 350℉ for about 8-10 min . Be careful not to let them brown. You may need to rotate the baking sheets once through the baking to avoid any hot spots of your oven. The cookies will a little soft when you take them out and will firm as they cool.

Remove to a cooling rack.

When the cookies have cooled pair each with an equal size cookie, spread the bottom cookie with the jam or the lemon curd and top with the second one, pressing ever so gently to press the jam to the ends..

Dust confectioners sugar over the top.

Makes about 12 “sandwich” cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter.

Enjoy.


Sandwich cookies with raspberry jam and lemon cream

Sandwich cookies with raspberry jam and lemon cream

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Sandwich cookies with raspberry jam

Sandwich cookies with raspberry jam



 

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