Shortbread with filling: a simple recipe with a photo

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

What could be better than sweet pastries? Of course, shortbread cookies with filling! It can be a real culinary masterpiece. Delicate, crumbly shortbread cookies, complemented by juicy filler, will appeal to everyone. It can be made both closed and open. Below are a few recipes for Stuffed Shortbread Cookies, each showing how to make a wonderfully delicious treat.

Chocolate filling option

These cookies are filled with chocolate filling wrapped nicely inside shortbread dough. From the outside, it may seem like a standard dessert, but its delicate flavor and filling make it unique. For it you will need the following:

• one and a half cups of flour;
• half a cup of cornstarch;
• 1 tsp s alt;
• 200 grams uns alted butter, softened;
• half a glasssugar;
• 1 egg;
• 1 tsp vanilla extract;
• 3/4 cup hazelnut chocolate spread (Nutella, Alice, etc.).

Preparing the filling

First, chill the can of chocolate spread by placing it in the freezer in batches about an hour before you intend to use it. It's done like this.

Line a baking sheet or large plate with parchment paper. Place a teaspoon of small balls of paste on paper at some distance from each other. You can also use a small dessert scoop for this purpose. Although the pasta will not hold its shape right away, after it cools you can form even balls. Put a total of 20 servings of pasta and place the baking sheet (or plate) in the freezer for about an hour. The recipe calls for shortbread biscuits with a filling inside, so its pre-preparation is required.

How to make dough?

Preheat the oven to 190°C in advance. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix flour, corn starch and s alt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a deep bowl, beat the butter with a mixer on medium speed. Then add sugar and beat for 3-5 minutes. The resulting mass should be air. Add the egg and vanilla extract, continuing to beat until completely combined. The mixture may look a little lumpy, this is perfectly normal. Pause to scrape the sides of the bowl and stir again to make sure all the ingredients aremerged.

Add dry ingredients mixture in 2-3 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until everything is combined. Pause periodically to scrape off any caked-on dough from the sides of the bowl. The mixture should eventually form into a soft, pliable dough. If it's too sticky, put the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes. It will be soft but pliable in floured hands.

Collecting shortbread with filling: recipe with photo

Remove a piece of dough from the bowl, about a heaping tablespoon. Form a flat, but rather thick circle of dough with a diameter of 5-7 cm. You can do them one at a time or all at once, spreading the dough pieces on a large surface.

Remove the chocolate spread on a baking sheet from the freezer. Working one at a time, place the filling in the center of one of the dough circles. Pull the sides of the dough around the edges and form a soft dome with your fingers, making sure the dough covers all sides of the chocolate filling. If the products are not completely sealed, the stuffing will leak out during baking.

Place cookies on prepared baking sheets 3-4cm apart to allow airflow. Bake for 14-18 minutes, turning the pans after 7 minutes. These chocolate-filled shortbread cookies are meant to be pale, so don't let them bake to brown. Let the items cool on the trays. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, if desired. After theystand for ten minutes, you can serve them. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Jam and white chocolate variant

This is a filled shortbread that offers a contrast of texture and flavor. This is a sandwich type dessert. Two sweet crunchy biscuits are paired with juicy sweet raspberry jam. When making them, you need to ensure that all cookies are the same size. Otherwise, they will not be able to fit snugly together, and the filling will flow out. Also, don't overfill with jam, as you want the two halves to stick together well. To keep this dessert fresh for longer, it is best to harvest it on the day of serving or store it in the refrigerator. As you can see in the attached photo, the shortbread with filling made according to this recipe looks very beautiful.

You can use a quality store-bought jam or jam, but it's best to opt for your own homemade jam. The recipe below suggests making a very quick cookie filling. All you have to do is mix unsweetened frozen raspberries with sugar and pectin and cook them on the stove until thick and tender, about five to six minutes. Then add some lemon juice and you're done.

For shortbread with jam filling you will need:

• 2 cups (260 grams) flour;
• ¼ h.l. s alt;
• 1 cup (225 grams) uns alted butter;
• half a cup (60 grams) of powdered sugar;
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.

For stuffing:

• half a cup of raspberry jam or jam;
• 60 grams (1/3 cup chopped) white chocolate, melted.

For raspberry jam:

• one and a half tsp. (5 g) powdered fruit pectin;
• 1 cup white sugar;
• 340 grams frozen unsweetened raspberries;
• 1 tbsp l. (10 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice.

How to prepare the dough for this dessert

The shortcrust pastry recipe for stuffed cookies is quite simple. In a medium bowl, mix flour and s alt.

In a deep bowl, beat the butter with a mixer until smooth (about 1 minute). Add sugar and beat until everything is well combined. Enter vanilla extract. Carefully start adding flour in small portions. Beat slowly until smooth.

Divide the dough in half, then roll each half between two sheets of parchment or wax paper until sheets are about 6mm thick. Periodically feel the top and bottom sheets of parchment and smooth out any wrinkles. Put the dough on a baking sheet (along with parchment paper) and refrigerate until firm (about 30-60 minutes). You can put it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

After cooling, remove from the refrigerator and remove the top sheetparchment paper. Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. Use a smaller cutter to cut holes in the center half of the figures. In the future, you will stack two blanks one on top of the other, and there will be a “window” in the top cookie.

Place items on parchment-lined baking sheet 5cm apart. Then put everything in the fridge to chill while you preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool on a wire rack. Next, you can start assembling shortbread cookies with filling.

How to assemble dessert

Place the cut-out cookies on the rack and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Spread a thin layer of melted white chocolate over whole blanks. Cover it with a thin layer of jam (about ½ tsp). Place the cookies with the cutout on top and gently fold them into the sandwiches, being careful not to scatter the powder from the surface. Using a small spoon, fill the cutout with more jam.

Variant with lemon filling

This delicate lemony treat with white chocolate chunks is a delicious and refreshing summer treat. For this Stuffed Shortbread Cookie Recipe, you will need the following.

For cookies:

• glass of uns alted butter, softened;
• half a cup + 2 tbsp. l. powdered sugar;
• 1 tsp vanilla;
• grated zest of one lemon;
• 2 cups flour;
• 100 grams of white chocolate, cut into small piecespieces.

For lemon filling:

• half a glass of lemon juice;
• 2 tsp lemon zest;
• half a cup of sugar;
• 2 eggs;
• 5 tbsp. l. uns alted butter.

For decoration:

• 50-60 grams of white chocolate;
• half tsp coconut oil.

How to make filler

These are open shortbread cookies with lemon filling, so the latter should be quite thick. To cook it, melt the butter in a saucepan. Remove from heat, add sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest, beat and mix evenly. Add eggs and beat well. Place over medium heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick enough not to drip off the fork. Refrigerate.

How to make dough

To make shortcrust pastry, mix butter, sugar, vanilla and s alt until smooth. Turn mixer on low speed and gradually add flour. Blend until fully combined. Add finely chopped white chocolate.

Put the dough on a piece of parchment paper and roll into a sausage (about 3-4 cm in diameter). Gently squeeze with your hands, wrap tightly in parchment paper and refrigerate for 2 hours to cool. If you make the dough ahead of time, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to four days or freeze it for up to three months. In this case, wrap it with cling film. When the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 160°C and line the baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough into a thin layer and use a round cutter or an inverted cup to cut into round slices. Roll up the rest and cut again. If the dough crumbles too much, leave it at room temperature for 5-8 minutes, then cut. If the slices lose their shape, press them down with your fingers. Put all the blanks on a baking sheet at a distance of 3 cm from each other. Bake for 15-20 minutes until edges are lightly golden.

When you remove the baking sheet from the oven, immediately gently press the center of each warm cookie with the bottom of a glass to make room for the lemon filling. Cool on baking sheets for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Spread about one and a half teaspoons of lemon filler on each cookie.

Melt approximately 160 grams of white chocolate and 1/2 tsp. coconut oil, transfer to a bag, cut off the corner and decorate the shortbread with filling. It is best to make a drawing in the form of citrus slices in a section.

Variant with curd filling

This filled shortcrust biscuit is an interesting mix of ingredients. Its peculiarity lies in the deep chocolate (with bitterness!) taste of cookies in contrast to the delicate and sweet filling. These cookies make a great addition to your afternoon coffee or tea. You will need the following products:

Chocolate Dough:

• 200 grams uns alted butter, stored at room temperature (itshould be soft but not runny);
• Half a cup plus tbsp. l. sugar;
• 1 tbsp l. vanilla extract;
• 1/4 tbsp. l. table s alt;
• 210 grams of flour;
• 70 grams of unsweetened cocoa powder;
• powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional).

For curd filling:

• 4 tbsp. l. uns alted butter;
• 2 cups of powdered sugar;
• 1/2 tbsp. l. vanilla extract;
• one and a half st. l. milk;
• one and a half glasses of grated grated cottage cheese or cream cheese.

How to make this chocolate treat

Mix flour, cocoa and s alt. Set aside.

In a deep bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachments, beat the butter and sugar, then add the vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed. The dough should be tough and firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out about a third of the dough to a thickness of 5mm. Cut it with a round cutter or an upside down glass. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Gather up the leftovers and mix with the rest of the dough, repeat the rolling and slicing process until you have used all of it.

Sprinkle with a little sugar if you like. Bake in the oven at 160°C for approximately 15-17 minutes. Let cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack tocool completely.

How to make the curd filling and assemble the dessert

Place butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract, cottage cheese and milk in a deep bowl. Mix on low speed. Increase speed and beat for five minutes (or longer) until cream is fluffy. If the filling seems too thick, you can add a little more milk.

How to assemble shortbread cookies stuffed with cottage cheese? Spread half of the cooled products on the work surface. Put the prepared filling in a bag with a cut off corner and apply it in a circular motion to the blanks, trying to put more in the center. Cover with the second halves, pressing lightly so that the filling is distributed. Serve immediately.