Raspberry Jam Shortbread Hearts

 

January came and went in a flash without much baking on my part.  To be honest I was a bit burnt out from all the holiday baking I'd done and on top of that work was keeping me busy, but now I'm back and raring to go.   First up are these super tasty and cute Raspberry Jam Shortbread Hearts which are perfect for Valentine's Day.  The crispy, buttery shortbreads are filled with my homemade, tart raspberry jam and are utterly delicious.  They actually remind me of the British "Jammie Dodgers" biscuit.  

I used a heart shaped thumbprint cookie stamp I bought from Williams-Sonoma a few years ago.  The set also comes with a rectangle and circle shape and cuts and shapes the cookie dough perfectly.  You get professional looking results with little to no effort!

For the shortbread dough I tweaked my favorite clotted cream shortbread recipe.  Since I didn't have any fresh clotted cream I just replaced that amount in the recipe with the same amount of butter.  The dough is super forgiving and you can't really mess it up.  My main tip is to roll the dough to at least 1/4-inch thickness; any thinner and it will be harder to get the nice embossed design on the cookie. 

Gift these cookies to your loved ones for the tastiest Valentine. 

 Happy Valentine's Day!

Raspberry Jam Shortbread Hearts

100 grams sugar

200 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

300 grams all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

 

1/4 cup raspberry jam, homemade or store bought     

Preheat oven to 325F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add in the flour and mix until thoroughly combined and dough comes together.

Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness.  Use thumbprint cookie cutter to cut out cookies.  Place on baking sheet, spacing them 1" apart.  Fill centers with raspberry jam.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool completely.