Pb&j Shortbread Sandwiches

Marz's Note:

This recipe was published twice in 2008 and made it to the top 10 recipes for 2008 in the Chicago Tribune. The recipe was adapted from th ebook "The Good Cookie" by Tish Boyle. I think it might deserve to be posted although I have not tried it myself.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 50 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 35

Yield: 35.0 cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup natural-style peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam

Directions:

1. Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed 1 minute. Gradually add the sugars, beating until well blended, about 1 1/2 minutes. Mix the peanut butter, vanilla and salt; lower the speed to medium low. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes; lower the speed to low.
2. Beat in the flour slowly, until just blended. Turn the dough out onto a work surface; divide the dough in half. Shape into 2 disks. Wrap each disk inplastic; refridgerate untill chilled, about 2 hours (dough can be chilled up to 2 days).
3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place one of the chilled disks on a lightly floured work surface; roll the dough to a thicknes of less than 1/4 inch. Cut into cookies with a 1 3/4 inch round cookie cutter; transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing cookies about 3/4 inch apart. (Gather up scraps; rewrap. Chill 15 minutes before rerolling and cutting.).
4. Bake one cookie sheet at a time until cookies are just firm but not browned, 18-20 minutes. Cool on a baking sheets 10 minutes; transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
5. Spread half of the cookies with 1 tsp of of raspberry jam each; top with remaining cookies, forming sandwiches.

Reviews

[Buster's friend]

Yea Marz! This is an incredibly tasty cookie that may have some redeeming protein from the peanut butter - still a diet buster if in the house at the wrong time. I had saved this one after clipping, lost it (b/c I did not post promptly LOL) & "refound" in the Chicago Tribune's 10 Best List for 2008. The Tribune folks made me laugh when they mentioned this cookie being a budget stretcher - more like a blue jeans stretcher! They are sinfully delicious so thank you for posting this tasty treat!