How has it been two weeks since I last posted? I’m slacking off here and I know it. The past few weeks haven’t resulted in much baking, although I do have a small handful of nice recipes to share with you once I finally get around to writing them up! These cookies are delicious. I made them to bring to my cousin’s high school musical, All Shook Up. Maybe you remember me mentioning seeing him last year when I posted the Chocolate Orange Chunk Cookie recipe? Anyway, this year he was absolutely phenomenal! I wish you could have come too because I think you really would have enjoyed it. I was singing the songs to myself for at least a week afterwards. I won’t say these cookies are better than the play, because they’re not. They won’t make you laugh so hard you cry or give you an earworm, but they will make you glad that strawberry season is right around the corner. Happy baking!
Notes:
You should freeze the dough log for at least one hour. I wrap mine in parchment paper and then in a layer of plastic wrap. If needed, you can freeze the shaped dough for about two weeks. Make sure that the dough is frozen when you slice it. Rotate the cylinder every few slices so you don’t flatten one side of the cylinder. If your dough cylinders are not symmetrical, then slice the cookies into pairs so your top and bottom cookies match. If your two cylinders pretty much match, then you don’t need to cut the dough in pairs. The easiest way to place the jam on the bottom cookie is to pipe it. I warmed a half cup (161 g) of jam, but I didn’t need the entire half cup of jam, so start by warming up a third of a cup and then warm up more if you need it. If the top cookie is still frozen when you place it on top of the jam, just let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to soften so you can press it onto the bottom cookie without cracking the top. Also, not to be all Sandra Lee, but if making cookie dough is not your thing and these cookies still intrigue you, you could always use a tube of sugar cookie dough from the store and slice it up and add the jam. I won’t judge you too much...
Cookie Ingredients:
2 cups (278 g) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon (2 g) salt
1 cup (2 sticks; 224 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (67 g) powdered sugar
2 tablespoons (34 g) light brown sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest from 1 medium-sized lemon (~1 teaspoon; 2 g)
⅓ -½ cups of strawberry jam
Sugar Coating Ingredients:
1 egg white
1 teaspoon cold water
Coarse decorating sugar
Whisk, Cream, Mix, Shape, Freeze:
In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour and salt, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and powdered and light brown sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest to the butter mixture, and beat again. Add the flour mixture, and beat until just combined and no more flour streaks remain. Divide the mixture in half, and shape it into cylinders that are about 1½-inches in diameter. To shape the cylinders, first cut two pieces of wax or parchment paper. Pat the dough into a log that is a little bit bigger than 1½-inches in diameter. Begin to roll the dough to smooth it out into a nice, smooth cylinder. Use a bench scraper or ruler to tuck the wax or parchment paper tight against the dough as your roll it; this will help to pull the dough into a cylinder. Once evenly shaped, wrap the cylinders well, and freeze them on a level surface for at least one hour.
Coat, Slice, Bake:
Warm the jam in a small saucepan over low heat. Line a drinking glass with a piping or Ziploc bag. Once the jam is warmed and runny, scrape it into the prepared bag, and set aside. When it is time to pipe the jam onto the cookie indentations, snip off the corner of the bag.
Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350ºF. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats, and set aside. Remove one of the dough cylinders from the freezer, and remove the wrapping. Place the unwrapped cylinder on a cutting board and use a sharp, thin knife to slice into pieces that are ⅛-inch thick. Place the slices on the prepared cookie sheets. Snip off the corner of the bag that is filled with the warm jam. Pipe a small blob of jam, a ¼ teaspoon or so, in the center of each cookie. Remove the second cylinder of dough from the freezer and unwrap it. Place the unwrapped cylinder on a cutting board and use a sharp, thin knife to slice it into pieces that are ⅛-inch thick. Place a dough slice on top of each jam-topped bottom cookie. Gently press the edges of the top cookie to the bottom cookie, taking care not to press so hard that the jam runs out of the center. If the top cookie is still frozen, let it sit for a few minutes to warm up so you can press it to the bottom cookie without cracking the top. If you are in a rush and the top cookie is frozen, once you sandwich the cookies you can do a quick flip so that the frozen cookie is on the bottom and the now softer original bottom cookie is on the top. Just make sure that you are careful not to spill the jam everywhere when you flip it. Once all of the cookies are assembled, combine the egg white and teaspoon of cold water in a bowl, and beat with a fork until frothy. Use a pastry brush to coat the top of each cookie with the egg wash and then generously sprinkle some coarse decorating sugar on top of each cookie. Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 10-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from the baking sheets and cool on a wire rack. Once fully cooled, store in an airtight container between layers of wax paper.
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