So tis the season for spring fruit and veg so I had a hankering to make something with strawberries and rhubarb. Yes, again. So I figured why not try cookies in this equation, so here they are. Made the filling from scratch too, because it is hard to find commercially made strawberry-rhubarb jam/butter. Sweet and tart all sandwiched between a lovely vanilla sugar cookie.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Strawberry Rhubarb Butter (recipe follows)
Powdered sugar, for dusting
You will also need two cookie cutters — one larger for the bottoms and one smaller, to cut the whole in the middle.
Directions
Preheat oven to 330F. Prepare cookie sheets with silpat or parchment paper.
In the work bowl of your stand mixer, cream together butter and powdered sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add in egg, then the vanilla extract and orange juice. In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt, then gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture, beating just until blended. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Cover and chill 1 hour.
Roll each portion to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface; cut with the larger cutter. Cut centers out of half of cookies with a smaller cutter. Make sure that you have an even number of solid and cut out cookies. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes; cool on wire racks. Spread solid cookies with strawberry rhubarb butter and then sandwich with a cut out cookie. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
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Strawberry Rhubarb Butter (makes about 4 half pint glasses)
Ingredients
2 pounds strawberries, pureed
2 pounds rhubarb, sliced
1 to 2 cups sugar
Directions
Combine the pureed strawberries, sliced rhubarb and 1 cup sugar in a large, non-reactive pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a low boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Stirring regularly, cook the fruit at a low simmer for 35 to 45 minutes, until it no longer looks watery and it sits up high in the bowl of a spoon. When the butter has reduced to about half its original volume, taste it. If desired, add additional sugar. If any whole pieces of rhubarb remain, press them into the butter using the back of your spoon. Once butter has finished cooking, remove the pan from the heat. Ladle butter into prepared half pint jars.
