Charlotte Ree's Shortbread Jam Stars

I can’t beat sugar, butter and vanilla together without scooping up a bit to try. With the very first taste, I am immediately transported back to my nanny’s kitchen, licking the same mixture from a spatula as we made jam drops together.

These are incredibly easy to make and they can be customised to include your favourite flavour of jam. Here I have chosen raspberry, as that’s my nanny’s favourite and the jam we always baked with, but you could use fig, blueberry, strawberry or anything that tickles your fancy, really. Just be careful not to overfill or the jam may ooze out.

INGREDIENTS:

• 225g unsalted butter, at room temperature 

• 170g caster sugar 

• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature 

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

• 100g almond meal 

• 250g plain flour 

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 

• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest 

• 30g icing sugar, sifted 

• 160g raspberry jam

METHOD:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the egg yolks and beat for 1 minute, then add the vanilla.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond meal, flour, salt, cinnamon and lemon zest. 

3. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat lightly to combine. 

4. Divide the dough in half and gently press each half into a disc. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper. 

6. Remove the dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 6 mm. If your dough sticks, keep dusting it with more flour and rolling until it is no longer sticking to your hands. If it softens too much, put it back in the fridge for a little while to firm up.

7. Using a 7 cm circular cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can manage from the disc of dough. Keep re-rolling the dough until you run out. Repeat with the second disc of dough, but this time after you have cut out your circles, use a 5 cm star-shaped cutter to cut stars from the centre of each. Use a palette knife to assist you with picking up the cut-outs, being gentle to stop them from breaking. You can use the leftover dough from cutting out the stars to make additional cookies

8. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on the edges – you may need to swap the trays halfway through to ensure the cookies bake evenly. 

9. Remove the cookies from the oven and, using a spatula, carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. 

10. When ready to assemble, dust icing sugar over the tops of the cut-out circles only.

11. Using a small teaspoon, spread jam over each of the solid circles. Top each one with a dusted cookie and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

N.B. This recipe makes 12 cookies & you can decorate with any shaped cut-out you like!

Recipe by Charlotte Ree. Find her website here, follow her on Instagram here and, for a special Christmas treat for the sweet-toothed foodie in your life, buy her newly released Just Desserts cookbook here.