Shortbread Linzer Cookies

Special equipment: 3 inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, and a smaller cookie cutter that will fit inside the round one for a “peek-a-boo” of jam that peeks through the top cookie.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and combine it on medium low speed. Beat it until it looks creamy and has lightened a bit in color.
3. Then add the vanilla extract and stir to fully incorporate. Set aside.
4. Whisk salt into the flour in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 2-3 batches, stirring in between each addition. Stir until well combined and the dough starts to come together. The dough will be very crumbly.
5. Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on a clean, flat surface. Dump the crumbly dough onto the plastic wrap.
6. Fold the plastic wrap over the crumblies, and push them together. The heat of your hands will soften the butter a bit, and it will eventually come together as a mass of dough. Try to shape it into as close to a rectangle as possible. Pop it in to the fridge for 20 minutes or so, or until firm.
7. Unwrap the chilled dough, and roll it out evenly on a floured surface until it’s rolled into 1/8-inch thickness.
8. Once the dough has been rolled rather thinly, cut the dough with a 3 inch cookie or biscuit cutter. I used a circle, but you can use whatever shape you like. Then take the smaller cutter, and make cut-outs in half of the circles (I used a star cutout). Remember that these are sandwich cookies, so each one will need a solid bottom, and a top with a shape cut out.
9. Put the dough pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-22 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned.
10. Feel free to roll the cute little centers back into the dough to make additional larger cookies. Or just bake them as they are, which is what I did. They only took about 9 or 10 minutes.
11. Remove cookies from oven and cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
12. Before serving, spread about 1/2 teaspoon of jam in a thin layer onto all of the the solid cookies.
13. Then top each with a matching cut-out cookie topper. Repeat this until all of the cookies are sandwiches.