Um, these might be the most beautiful shortbread cookies of all time. Which is perfect for the loving Valentine’s season we’re about to enter.
I honestly don’t think I’m going to frost a cookie another way ever again. This marble technique is easy, pretty, and you can do it with just about any colour you want. Obvisouly I went with pink for Valentine’s Day but you can switch up the colours for whatever your heart desires.
One weekend I made these filled with strawberry jam and they were such a hit that I decided to make them again, using my salted butter caramel as the filling. While I’m more partial to the contrast of berry and shortbread, the salted caramel was also delicious. I think I also like the overall look of the jam peeking through the sandwich too.
Honestly though, you could fill these with pretty much anything you want and they’d be delicious. Chocolate ganache? Yum. Peanut butter? Not for me, but definitely a good idea for the peanut butter lover in your life. You could even make it a really fancy s’more type cookie with marshmallow fluff and chocolate.
The possibilities are endless.
I think the frosting might be the best part of these cookies though. It’s so pretty! And it’s also deceptively easy. Make some royal icing, drop in a few drops of food colouring, gently swirl and then it’s ready to go! You want to see the white and variation in the icing, don’t turn it pink or whatever colour you add.
As well as the cookie tops, I also dipped the little mini hearts in the frosting. Mostly because I wanted more beauty on my kitchen counter 😉
Make these for your loved ones, or better yet, make these with your loved ones. Fun for adults, fun for kids. Happy baking!
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Filling:
- Strawberry jam or salted caramel (store-bought or homemade)
Royal Icing:
- 1 egg white
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- Pink/red gel food colouring
Instructions
Cookies:
- Heat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, cream the butter and powdered sugar. Add the flour and salt, stirring to combine. It may be crumbly, you can bring it together with your hands to form a dough.
- On a floured surface, roll out the dough 1/4" thick. Cut using heart shaped cookie cutters, cutting the center out of half of the hearts. You can re-roll and cut the dough from the middle of the cookies or bake small hearts.
- Place cookie cutouts on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 13-15 minutes, until set. Allow to cool briefly on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- When cookies are cool, make the frosting by whipping the egg white until foamy, then add in the powdered sugar and lemon juice and combine. It should be a runny, glue-like consistency. Add a few drops of food colouring to the icing and swirl gently (don't fully combine). Dip the cookies with the cut-outs (the "top" of the cookie sandwich) in the frosting, shaking off excess. Allow to dry fully.
- When ready to assemble, spread jam or caramel on the bottom of each whole cookie, and top with frosted cookie tops.
