Homemade Flower Shaped Shortbread Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F with the rack in the middle of the oven.

Whisk the flour with the salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

Next beat the the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Combine the wet and the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Cover the dough and refrigerate for one hour or until easy to handle.

On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness using a rolling pin. Using the flower-shaped cookie cutter, cut out your cookies (I got 24). Re-roll and cut the dough scraps as needed.

After that take half of the cookies and cut a small round hole out of the middle of it using a 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Now remove the middle round that you’ve just cut (see photo).

Lightly butter a baking tray and then line with oiled or baking sprayed parchment paper. Place the cookies onto the baking tray.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and set tray on a rack. Allow cookies to cool.

On the bottom surface of the full cookie (top of cookie will face out) spread with about a 1 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Place the cut-out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together.

Sprinkle candy sprinkles on top of the jam (in the middle of the cutout.) I’ve done this in the photo above.

Serve and enjoy.