Babee’s Strawberry Shortbread Valentine’s Cookies

From the kitchen of Carly

Buttery shortbread dough gets a citrus lift from orange juice, then gets sandwiched with jammy strawberry preserves. These tender, crisp cookies are the kind of Valentine's treat that tastes both elegant and homey, perfect for gifting or keeping all to yourself.

Babee’s Strawberry Shortbread Valentine’s Cookies

Butter shortbread with an orange-zest undertone, punched out to frame strawberry preserves like stained glass. The trick is removing the cookies from the oven just pale golden, before they firm up and crack when you stack them. These are a showstopper precisely because they look delicate but hold together, and the textured preserve filling stays put between two layers of tender, barely-sweet dough.

Prep
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Cook
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Total
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Servings
4
Difficulty
medium

Ingredients

4 servings

  • 6 cupsifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 tspbaking powder
  • 2 cupunsalted butter
  • 2 cupsifted confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 largeegg yolks
  • 1/2 cuporange juice
  • 1 tsppure vanilla extract
  • 6 cupstrawberry preserves

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.

  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a regular bowl with a handheld electric mixer), cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, around 3 to 5 minutes.

  3. Drop in the egg yolks, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Mix slowly to combine.

  4. Pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix slowly until a soft dough comes together.

  5. Take the dough out of the mixer and knead it with your hands until it turns stretchy. Slide the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll flat with a rolling pin.

  6. Peel away the top sheet of parchment paper and cut the rolled dough in half. From one half, punch out solid bottom rounds of cookies. From the other half, punch out top rounds with a heart-shaped window in the center.

  7. Arrange the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, pulling them before they brown. Let cool completely.

  8. Carefully spread strawberry preserves across the solid bottom rounds. Top each one with a heart-window round and serve. Yields about 1 1/2 dozen sandwiched cookies.

Tips from the kitchen

  • Roll the dough between parchment sheets so it doesn't stick and stays an even thickness. This also lets you lift and rotate easily when cutting out shapes.
  • Bake until the cookies are pale blonde, not golden brown. They firm up as they cool, so pulling them off heat early means they'll be tender enough to stack without shattering.
  • Spread the preserves on the solid bottom half while it's still warm from cooling, then immediately top with the cut-out half. The slight warmth helps the layers stay bonded.
  • If your preserves are too thick to spread, warm them gently in a small pot for 30 seconds to loosen them up without losing the fruit texture.

Variations

  • Lemon zest instead of orange juice, paired with raspberry preserves for a deeper berry flavor.
  • All-butter dough with no egg yolks (substitute with 3 tablespoons milk) for a more crumbly, traditional shortbread texture.
  • Skip the heart cutout and make simple sandwich cookies with the solid dough shapes, swapping the jam for dark chocolate ganache.
  • Use apricot or cherry preserves if strawberry isn't in season, or try a homemade jam to dial in the sweetness level.

Make ahead and storage

Keep in an airtight container in the cool part of your pantry for up to 4 days. Don't refrigerate, the shortbread will harden. Freezing isn't ideal because the jam filling can weep and soggy the delicate dough when thawed.