Valentine Raspberry Sandwich Cookies

With raspberry jam filling sandwiched between rich heart-shaped butter cookies, Valentine Raspberry Sandwich Cookies are the perfect little sweet treat to spoil your special ones with this Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is coming up soon! I don't know about you, but at our house Valentine's Day isn't a huge deal. In fact, my husband's idea of Valentine's Day is pretty much this ...

And while I don't need grand Valentine's gestures, I do like the day to at least be acknowledged. So my idea of Valentine's Day is more like this ...

But instead of chocolate, I would gladly take a big batch of these Valentine Raspberry Sandwich Cookies as acknowledgement of the sweet day.

Because next to chocolate, rich butter cookies sandwiched with raspberry jam filling is the next best thing!

These cookies are a version of the Raspberry Jam Sandwich Cookies I previously shared, all dressed up for Valentine's Day. Grab heart-shaped cookie cutters and some hot pink or red colored sugar ... and you've got all you need to whip up this Valentine's Day sweet treat.

I sprinkled my cookies with turbinado sugar first and then with a touch of the colored sugar. Using both sugars together gives the cookies just a little extra touch of sparkle ... the turbinado sugar shimmers a little in the light, making the cookies all beautifully sparkly.

As you can see, I did some with red sugar and some with hot pink. I like the hot pink ones better.

So whether you've got special ones in your life that adore grand Valentine's gestures, or {like me and my hubby} just like a little acknowledgement of the day, these Valentine Raspberry Sandwich Cookies will fit perfectly into your plans. No matter how big or how small those plans may be.

Valentine Raspberry Sandwich Cookies

Source: Adapted from Cook's Illustrated Baking Book: Baking Demystified
(Printable recipe)

Ingredients

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
16 T. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened & cut into 16 pieces
2 T. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. seedless raspberry jam
1 T. turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)
Pink {or red} sanding sugar

Directions

PREPARE THE RASPBERRY FILLING: Place jam in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until jam has reduced to 1 cup, about 10 minutes. Jam will be very thick. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
PREPARE THE COOKIE DOUGH: Place flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl); mix on low speed about 10 seconds until well combined.
With the mixer running at low speed, add 1 piece of butter at a time dropping them in about 3 seconds apart. Once all the butter is added, continue mixing about 1 to 2 minutes more until the mixture resembles moist crumbs. Beat in cream cheese and vanilla for about 30 seconds until dough starts to form large clumps.
Use your hands to knead dough until it comes together into a large ball, about 3 or 4 turns.
Divide dough into two equal pieces, press each piece into a round slightly flattened disc, wrap each in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until firm but still pliable.
MAKE COOKIES FOR THE BOTTOM OF THE SANDWICH: Working with one dough piece {keep the other one in the refrigerator}, roll to 1/8-inch thick between 2 pieces of parchment paper or on a lightly floured work surface. Peel away top sheet of parchment {if using}.
Use an approximately 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut cookies from the rolled dough. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 8 - 10 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 2 - 3 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
MAKE COOKIES FOR THE TOP OF THE SANDWICH: Roll remaining dough piece and sprinkle the top evenly with the turbinado sugar; then add a small sprinkling of pink {or red} sanding sugar. Use the same heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut cookies from the dough. Use a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the center of each sugar-sprinkled cookie. Bake in the same manner as the bottom-of-the-sandwich cookies.
ASSEMBLE SANDWICH COOKIES: Once cookies have cooled, spread a teaspoon of jam filling on the top of each 'bottom' {solid} cookie and then place a cut-out cookie on top. Let stand for about 30 minutes before serving to allow the jam filling to set.