SANDWICH COOKIE RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt. With electric mixer, beat in the butter one stick at a time. Beat in cream cheese and vanilla until dough begins to form a ball. Knead dough in the bowl a few times. Divide dough in half; form each half into a flat 4-inch disc. Wrap with plastic and chill in refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes to make rolling easier.
• 2. Roll one disc of dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper to a 1/8-inch thickness. Repeat with remaining dough. Place rolled-out dough sheets with paper in refrigerator for 10 minutes.
• 3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove one sheet of dough from refrigerator. Remove paper; cut out squares with a cookie cutter. Make half of the squares decorative by cutting a smaller shape from the center for jam to show through when assembled.
• 4. Arrange squares on ungreased cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until bottoms are just golden.
• 5. Cool cookies 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• 6. In a small saucepan, simmer jam over medium-low heat, stirring often, about 10 minutes or until slightly thickened and reduced to 1 cup. Cool 10 minutes before filling cookies.
• 7. Spoon a small amount of jam onto the full squares, spreading almost to edge. Place a square with a cutout on top. Detailed cutouts may need jam applied to assembled cookie with a tiny spoon or toothpick to fill in small spaces.