Description
These Deliciously Soft Strawberry Butter Cookies are a delightful treat featuring a light, fluffy butter cookie base sandwiched with creamy buttercream and sweet strawberry jam. Baked to golden perfection and dusted with powdered sugar, these cookies offer a perfect balance of rich buttery flavor and fruity sweetness that you’ll crave for any occasion.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup Butter (softened)
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 cups Cake or All-Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract (optional)
Buttercream Filling
- ¾ cup Butter
- 1 ½ cups Powdered Sugar
Additional Filling and Topping
- ¾ cup Strawberry Jam
- Powdered Sugar or Caster Sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Beat the Butter and Sugar: In a mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together for 3 to 5 minutes until the mixture becomes pale, light, and fluffy, which helps create a tender cookie texture.
- Combine with Flour: Sift the cake or all-purpose flour into the butter and sugar mixture. Gently fold the flour in to form a soft dough, taking care not to overmix to maintain tenderness.
- Form Dough Disks: Divide the dough evenly into two halves and shape each into a disk. This makes rolling easier and more uniform.
- Roll Out Dough: On parchment paper, roll each dough disk to a thickness of about 3/16 inch (5 mm) with a rolling pin for evenly baked cookies.
- Chill the Dough: Place the rolled dough sheets on a baking sheet or cutting board and chill them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up, which helps in cutting clean shapes and prevents spreading.
- Prepare Dough for Cutting: Remove the top layer of parchment paper from the dough and lightly dust the surface of the dough with flour to prevent sticking when cutting.
- Cut Out Cookies: Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies from the dough, then transfer the cutouts onto a baking sheet.
- Bake the Cookies: Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 320°F (160°C) for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Let them cool completely on a wire rack.
- Prepare Buttercream: In a bowl, beat ¾ cup of softened butter with 1 ½ cups powdered sugar until smooth and creamy to create the buttercream filling.
- Assemble the Cookies: Fill a piping bag fitted with a small tip with the buttercream. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the outer edge of half the cookies (the bottom part).
- Add Jam Layer: Pipe the strawberry jam into the center of the buttercream ring on each bottom cookie, creating a jam-filled center.
- Sandwich the Cookies: Place the remaining cookies on top of the filled cookies, gently pressing together to create a sandwich.
- Finishing Touch: Sprinkle the assembled cookies lightly with powdered sugar or caster sugar for an elegant, sweet finish.
Notes
- Using cake flour will yield softer cookies due to its lower protein content compared to all-purpose flour.
- Chilling the dough before baking prevents excessive spreading and helps maintain shape.
- If you don’t have a piping bag, use a zip-top plastic bag with a small corner snipped off for decorating.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- For a different flavor profile, swap the strawberry jam with raspberry or apricot preserves.
