Vegan Jam Sandwich Cookies
No, you’re not hallucinating. This is indeed a “holiday” recipe 2 months after Christmas. Whoops. But actually, these vegan jam sandwich cookies are perfect anytime of year! They’re adaptable to any event and always delicious no matter the season. You can use a heart-shaped cookie cutter, an Easter one, a Halloween one…The possibilities are endless.
These sandwich cookies are buttery, not-too-sweet but oh-so-addictive! You can think of them as vegan Jammie Dodgers or linzer cookies (but without nuts). Linzer cookies contain almond powder (sometimes hazelnut powder). Whereas this recipe uses a simple and buttery sugar cookie base! And the jam sandwiched between the two sugar cookies softens them and makes for a melt-in-your-mouth delight.
How to make these vegan jam sandwich cookies
The ingredients
This is one of those recipes that yields awesome results but is actually quite easy to make. It uses 7 ingredients (6 if you don’t count the water) and it’s a one bowl recipe. Easy peasy!
Vegan butter. I used homemade vegan butter, but store-bought will also work. Make sure it’s sticks of butter meant for baking. The spreadable ones that come in tubs have a higher water content and may cause your cookies to spread more.
Sugar. Plain ol’ granulated white sugar is what I used here. Caster sugar will also work. You could even use icing sugar in a pinch, it will give the cookies a finer crumb and softer texture.
Salt. Very important in any kind of baking to balance out the sweetness and bring out all the flavours. I always use table salt in my recipes as it dissolves and incorporates easily and is what most people will have on hand since it’s readily available.
Baking powder. This gives the cookies just enough lift to not be cracker-like.
Vanilla. As this is the only flavouring in the cookie, go for a good vanilla extract or even vanilla paste. Vanilla paste will give you a nice speckled look to your dough. You could also replace the vanilla with another extract like almond. Or leave it out altogether and add another flavouring instead. Like spices, lemon zest, orange zest, rose water, orange blossom, etc.
Water. This replaces the moisture usually added from eggs. You could also use plant based milk instead. Whichever you use, make sure it’s just room temperature so it doesn’t solidify or melt the butter.
Flour. I use all-purpose flour, but you could also use cake/pastry flour if you have it on hand. It has a lower protein content which will yield a softer and crumblier cookie that really melts in your mouth.
Making them
You can make the dough for these vegan jam sandwich cookies with an electric hand mixer, stand mixer or by hand with just a little bit of elbow grease. I’ve actually made this recipe by hand a few times and it’s very do-able. So don’t be alarmed if you don’t have special equipment, it doesn’t necessarily require it!
The process is very similar to regular sugar cookies, but even simpler. Start by creaming the butter, sugar, salt, baking powder and vanilla together until slightly lighter and fluffier (no need to whip in a ton of air). Then mix in the water, add the flour and stir it in just until a smooth dough forms. Avoid overmixing afterwards as that will develop more gluten and cause the cookies to be tough.
Wrap up the dough and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. This will allow it to rest, the flour to hydrate and the butter to firm up, which will make it easier to roll out.
Roll it out to a bit less than 1/4 in./6mm thick and cut out whatever shapes you like. You can roll the scraps back out until you’ve used up all the dough. Make sure that in the end you have an equal amount of whole cookies and cookies with a cut-out to form your sandwich cookies.
The bake time for these is fairly short because we don’t want them to brown. We want them to be fully baked but remain white. That way they won’t be too crisp, which will result in a more tender and buttery cookie rather than a crunchy one.
Once they’re baked, let them cool completely, dust the top cookies with icing sugar, place a dollop of the jam of your choice on the bottom cookies (I used sour cherry) and sandwich them with the top cookies! If you can, I would suggest assembling them the day before. That way the jam softens the cookies and creates a melt-in-your-mouth experience. When they’re freshly assembled, the cookies have a crisper texture.
Storing and freezing these vegan jam sandwich cookies
As mentioned, the dough for these cookies can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days. I haven’t tried freezing the ball of dough but that would also work. I actually prefer freezing the already cut out dough, that way you just place the shapes on the tray and bake. It makes for very easy make-ahead prep for holidays and such, rather than having to wait for the dough to defrost before rolling and cutting!
To do that, simply roll out the dough, cut out your cookies, place them on a lined tray in the freezer and let them harden. That way you can stack them in a ziploc bag or on the tray without them sticking together. You can keep them that way (on the well wrapped tray or in a sealed bag) for up to 1 month. You can bake them directly from frozen, you’ll just have to add about 1-2 minutes of bake time.
The filled and assembled cookies themselves can be kept at room temperature for up to a week. Don’t worry about them getting soggy, these sandwich cookies are actually best after the jam has softened them!
If you make this recipe please let me know in the comments! All feedback is very much appreciated and I would love to hear from you! You can also tag me on instagram @the.quaint.kitchen or use the hashtag #thequaintkitchen to share your creations!
Vegan Jam Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
- 125 g vegan butter, softened
- 130 g white granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 45 g water , room temperature
- 240 g all-purpose flour
- powdered sugar for dusting
- About 150g of jam in the flavour of your choice
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the softened butter, sugar, salt, baking powder and vanilla together until slightly paler and fluffier. No need to whip in a ton of air, we’re mostly relying on baking powder for lift, not air. You can do this by hand, with an electric hand mixer, or in a stand mixer.
- Add the water and mix until it’s incorporated. If the mixture splits, that’s normal and ok, it’ll come together once you add the flour.
- Add the flour and mix on low speed until it’s fully incorporated, don’t overmix after that as it’ll develop more gluten in the dough and yield tougher cookies.
- Cover the dough or wrap it up and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
- When you’re ready to start rolling it out, preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
- To roll it out, you can either do it in between 2 pieces of parchment or on a lightly floured surface. When the dough is cool and firm it won’t stick very much, but once it starts to soften it’ll stick more so I prefer to go the parchment route.
- Roll it out to a bit less than ¼ in./6mm thick and cut out your cookies. Make sure you have an equal amount of whole cookies and cookies with the center cut out. I used a 2 in./5cm round cookie cutter which yielded 25 sandwich cookies. Depending on the shape and size of your cookie cutter, you might get a different amount.
- Place the cookies on the baking sheets with a bit of space between them, they won’t spread too much. Bake them for about 10 minutes. They’ll still be white but the entire surface should be matt and set.
- Let them cool just a few minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once they’ve cooled, dust all the top cookies with powdered sugar. Place about 1 tsp of jam on the bottom cookie (on the side that was in contact with the baking sheet) and sandwich it with the dusted cookie Repeat until you’ve assembled all your sandwich cookies!
- You can eat them freshly assembled while the cookies are still a bit crisp or once they’re assembled, leave them at room temperature for at least a few hours to let the jam soften the cookies (my preferred way of eating them).
Notes
- *Disclaimer: I have a tiny not-so-great oven, so your bake time may vary from mine.
- I strongly suggest making recipes by weight, if you make them by cups I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- The vanilla extract or paste can be replaced with rose water, orange blossom water or 1/2 tsp of almond extract. You could also add lemon zest, orange zest, or spices to the dough instead.
This is my first time to your blog, and I made these for an impromptu tea party for my daughter and her friends. I used a vegan lemon curd and they were fantastic, I just added some lemon zest and used the remaining juice instead of water and it was perfect. Thanks!
That sounds amazing Cathy! Such a great idea, so happy you liked the recipe ☺️