I usually avoid the hassle of roll and cut cookies, but the photo of the sugar cookie tarts in The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook was so charming that I couldn't resist.
Fortunately, these turned out to be pretty straightforward, as far as roll and cut cookies go. You beat softened butter with powdered sugar and vanilla, add flour and baking powder, and then chill the resulting dough for at least 30 minutes. The chilled dough was easy to roll out between sheets of parchment; I used a 3-inch heart cookie cutter for the cookies, and then I used a small cherry blossom cutter to cut a hole in half of the cookies.
To assemble the cookies, all you do is put a small spoonful of jam on a whole cookie, and place a cookie with a cutout on top. Then you chill the cookies again before baking. After baking the cookies, you are supposed to dust them with powdered sugar while they are still warm, but I skipped that step because I needed to stack the cookies for storage and was worried about the sugar causing a mess.
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The cookies looked nice enough, although they were slightly fragile and prone to breaking if not packed carefully for transport. The recipe says to bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they are lightly golden on the edges and the jam is bubbling; I had to leave my cookies in the oven for 20 minutes before they took on any color at all. I think the cookies might have been sturdier if I had baked them even just a few minutes longer.
These cookies were, as the recipe promised, very buttery and tender enough to melt in your mouth. But the cookies did not have a lot of flavor aside from the jam (and in fairness, the recipe also says that "the jam is the true star here"). All in all, these were pretty forgettable.
Recipe: "Sugar Cookie Tarts" from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day.
Fortunately, these turned out to be pretty straightforward, as far as roll and cut cookies go. You beat softened butter with powdered sugar and vanilla, add flour and baking powder, and then chill the resulting dough for at least 30 minutes. The chilled dough was easy to roll out between sheets of parchment; I used a 3-inch heart cookie cutter for the cookies, and then I used a small cherry blossom cutter to cut a hole in half of the cookies.
To assemble the cookies, all you do is put a small spoonful of jam on a whole cookie, and place a cookie with a cutout on top. Then you chill the cookies again before baking. After baking the cookies, you are supposed to dust them with powdered sugar while they are still warm, but I skipped that step because I needed to stack the cookies for storage and was worried about the sugar causing a mess.
.JPG)
These cookies were, as the recipe promised, very buttery and tender enough to melt in your mouth. But the cookies did not have a lot of flavor aside from the jam (and in fairness, the recipe also says that "the jam is the true star here"). All in all, these were pretty forgettable.
Recipe: "Sugar Cookie Tarts" from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day.
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