As you may know by now (if you read my about me) I worked in an Italian bakery while I was in high school, and these Italian bakery cookies were one of my absolute favorites. Buttery crispy cookies, with raspberry jam sandwiched in between, dipped in decadent dark chocolate and sprinkles. Once you try them you'll see what makes them one of the most popular cookies in the bakery!
These cookies make a great choice any time of the year, but I find myself making them often during the holidays because they look elegant on a cookie platter and everyone goes crazy for them!
Jump to:
Ingredients
These sandwich cookies are surprisingly simple considering the the flavor they produce.
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Flour
- Chocolate
- Sprinkles
- Raspberry Jam
Instructions
Although these cookies take a bit more work than drop cookies, one bite of the buttery, jam-filled bliss and you'll find it was all worth it.
Pipe a thin line of raspberry jam across the flipped over cookies.
Place the top cookie on the jam and lightly press together forming a sandwich.
Once the cookies are filled and topped, wait about ten minutes for the jam to set slightly.
After dipping the cookies into the chocolate, immediately dip them into bowls of sprinkles, either rainbow or nonpareil work well, or you could add some festive flair with holiday sprinkles, like halloween, Christmas, Valentines day or any holiday!
These cookies would be perfect for bake sales, classroom parties, or holiday parties, you can easily swap the almond extract for vanilla if allergies are a concern.
Hint: Letting the jam set for about ten minutes after you fill the cookies is an important step you do not want to skip. If the jam isn't set, it will run out of the sides when you are dipping them into chocolate making it difficult to work quickly.
Substitutions
These are very simple straightforward cookies, with a low allergen profile. However, there are a few things you can swap out if you'd like.
- Almond Extract - you can use all vanilla extract for a completely nut-free version
- Jam - I typically use seedless raspberry jam but you easily use strawberry, blackberry, apricot, or any other you prefer or have on hand. I think raspberry and chocolate go well together which is why I prefer it.
- Sprinkles- overall, I am not a huge fan of sprinkles, and most of my cookies do not have them, but for these cookies, I enjoy the flash of color the sprinkles lend to the cookies as well as the texture. If you cannot or do not want to have sprinkles, you may omit them and just dip the cookies in chocolate for an equally delicious and beautiful cookie.
Even if your reader doesn't follow a specific diet (eg. gluten free), they may have friends or family that they're cooking for that could use this. This is also a great idea to link out to another blogger with a similar recipe that fits a different diet.
Equipment
For this recipe, you will need a few things that you most likely already have on hand.
- Stand mixer of hand mixer
- Large piping bag
- ½ inch star piping tip
My favorite piping bags are these and my favorite star tip is this one.
Storage
Store in an air-tight container on the counter for up to five days. If the weather is warm, I suggest storing these in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate from melting, however that will inevitably dry the cookie out, so check on them after about 4 days.
The uncooked cookie dough can be stored in the freezer for 3 months. Store in a ziploc bag with the air pressed out.
Top tip
Do not overfill the cookies! It's very tempting to jam pack (hehehe) these cookies with jam, but you want a thin line down the middle of the bottom cookie. When topped, the jam will spread out more, and the filling will be on the entire cookie. If you overfill the cookies, the jam will spill out of the sides making your hands sticky while you're dipping them.
FAQ
Yes you can and I do almost every time I make these. Although home-made jam is amazing and tastes fresher, you can use store-bought to save time.
Contrary to what people think, you do not need jam to be super thick. In fact, because you're piping this jam onto the cookies, it's easier to use a spreadable jam. I use Smuckers seedless Raspberry jam and I've never once had an issue.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Italian Bakery Cookies
Equipment
- Piping Bag
- ½ inch star piping tip
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cup All-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line two heavy duty baking sheets (ones that will not warp) with parchment paper. *see notes below
- Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes on medium speed.
- Once butter and sugar are light and fluffy, add egg yolks and extracts, mixing until combined.
- Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture, until all ingredients are combined, about 2-3 minutes.
- Once the dough has come together, transfer dough into a piping bag fitted with star tip.
- Holding the piping bag at a 45° angle, pipe 2 inch long cookies onto the sheet.
- Cook for 10 minutes, rotating the sheet half way through, until the cookies are very lightly browned. Try to pipe an even amount of cookies on each pan. I was able to pipe about 50 cookies in total.
- Allow the cookies to cool for about 2-3 minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once the cookies have cooled, flip half of the cookies over so that the flat side (the side that was touching the parchment) is now facing up. I used my cooled down cookie sheets to keep the cookies on a level surface.
- Fill another piping bag, or rinse the bag you used for the cookies, and fill with raspberry jam. You can use the same tip, or a slightly smaller one for the jam. Gently pipe the jam onto the cookies, being careful not to overfill. There should be a thin line of jam in the middle of each cookie.
- Next, top each jam filled cookie with the other set of baked cookies. You should now have about 25-30 cookie sandwiches. Allow the jam to set for about 10 minutes.
- While the jam is setting, melt some chocolate in a double burned on the stove over simmering water, or in the microwave, using 20-30 second intervals.
- Once the chocolate is melted and the jam is set, carefully dip each cookie into the chocolate, taking care not to dip your fingers. The chocolate will be hot! Immediately dip the cookies from the chocolate into the sprinkles and place back onto the cooling racks.
Notes
Food safety
- Use caution when putting food into the oven and removing from the oven.
- Take care when dipping the cookies into hot chocolate, making sure your fingers do not accidentally dip into the chocolate.
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
Comments
No Comments