AMANA REFRIGERATOR DOOR SEAL

Chocolate-Raspberry Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sifted flour
3/4 cup butter
Seedless raspberry jam
Bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips (1/2 a bag to a bag)

Directions
Stir the cornstarch, sugar, and flour together in a large bowl. Mix butter in with your hands to form a soft dough. Gather into softball-sized balls, flatten into 2-inch thick disks, wrap with plastic, and chill for about 45 minutes (You want the dough stiff enough to be manageable, but not so stiff that it's too hard to roll out).

Roll chilled dough out to about 1/4 innch thickness, using powdered sugar on your work surface instead of flour. Cut into simple shapes (circles, squares, hearts - don't use complicated shapes, as the dough is way too delicate). Bake in preheated 350F oven, on parchment covered cookie sheets, for approximately 12 minutes, or until lightly golden just around the edges. Remove to cookie rack and let cool completely.

Spoon about 1/2 of a small jar of seedless raspberry jam into a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spread about a teaspoon of jam onto the bottom of one cookie (don't go all the way to the edges) and then gently press another cookie on top of the jam, bottom-side to the jam. Place on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. When all cookies are sandwiched, put cookie sheets into the fridge.

In a double boiler (or in a microwave) melt the chocolate chips at a low heat, and then spoon into a ziploc baggy. Pull the cookies out of the fridge, and cut a small corner off the ziploc baggy, and simply drizzle the chocolate across the cookies, working diagonally. When all the cookies are drizzled, pop them back into the fridge (or freezer, if you have one big enough), to set the chocolate.

Once chocolate is hardened, pull the cookies off the waxed paper, and break off any stray bits of chocolate. Store in a covered container, in between layers of plastic wrap or waxed paper, and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. I'd tell you how long you can keep them in the fridge, but honestly, they've never lasted more than 8 hours. I take them to work in the morning, and they're gone not long after lunch.

Notes: I make these for Valentine's Day, and hardly ever at any other time of the year. Depending on the size of your cookie cutter, I'd suggest doubling or even tripling the recipe above. For one thing, these are very delicate, and so break extremely easily. For another, you need two plain cookies to make each complete cookie. So make more than you think you'll need -- you can always bake the rest as plain shortbread cookies, if you want to.


February 13, 2007.

I made cookies! These are Aunt Mildred's Slice-of-Spice cookies and they are extremely addictive.

3 cups Flour (Sifted)
1 tsp Soda
1 Tsp Cream of tartar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 cup of unsalted butter (Paula Dean would be proud)
2 Cups of Brown sugar
1 Cup of Oatmeal
1/2 - 1 Cup of pecans (Chopped fine)
2 Eggs

Cream the butter and gradually add the Brown sugar. Blend in the eggs (unbeaten) 1 at a time. Add Vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients (Flour,Soda, Salt, cream of Tartar) Add the cup of oatmeal and pecans. Mix thoroughly.

Divide cookie dough into 3 parts and make 3 rolls in wax paper. (About 2in diameter rolls) Refrigerate the rolls for 3 to 5 hours. (Or place in the freezer for about an hour)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (f). Make a cinnamon/sugar mixture with 1/2 cup of sugar mixed with 3 tsp of cinnamon. On a greased cookie sheet (I just use a spray oil) slice 1/4inch cookies from the cookie dough rolls, coat with the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on the cookie sheet giving them enough room to grow. Bake for about 9-13 minutes.

This will make a LOT of cookies. I'm not sure how many because I can't stop eating them long enough to count them. If there are enough left to give away, they make a great gift for the holidays. -Ross