Holiday Shortbread Cookie Sandwiches with Nutella Filling

Just 18 days to go before Christmas...how exciting could that be! One of the things I enjoy about the Christmas season is baking cookies with my girls. It is actually something we love doing together all year round, but we find it such a perfect thing to do during the cold holiday break. Not only does baking help heat up our home, it is always fun to knead, shape and smell the goodness of cookies baking in the oven. Of course, eating the cookies we baked with a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of milk during cold nights is what we love the most. Sharing them with our friends is another thing!

Every year, we make an assortment of cookies which include Peanut Butter Cookies (Clarise and Ryan's favorite), Pecan Sandies (my favorite), Chocolate Chip Cookies (Cherlin's favorite), Snickerdoodle cookies for Santa, our family's favorite Chocolate Crinkles, and the very simple but delicious, Shortbread Cookies. 

Making Shortbread Cookies is so much fun! Not only are they so easy to make, they also require minimal ingredients. With just butter, flour and sugar, you'll have delicious treats in no time. You can shape and design them as festive as you want or you can just leave them plain and simple.

Clarise and Cherlin love shortbread cookies so much. Regardless of the flavor, shape and design, they just enjoy making and eating them! But do you want to know how they enjoy these delicious cookies the most??? They make cookie sandwiches with them...filled with their favorite Nutella. Does that sound yummy to you???

I love Nutella and I must tell you that Shortbread Cookie Sandwiches with Nutella Filling taste perfect! And if you make your Shortbread Cookies in fancy holiday shapes and dust them with confectioners' sugar, you'll have such easy-to-make but festive addition to your Holiday table!

Cherlin and I made these last Monday afternoon...

 

I love how Holiday-ish these Star Shaped Shortbread Cookies with Christmas tree cut out in the middle look. The design is actually Cherlin's idea. We made these yummy treats together while Clarise was at choir practice...and we all had fun eating them after dinner. Oh well, Cherlin & I actually had one each just after taking pictures. You can't blame us - they're so good!!! :)

I'm sharing these Holiday Shortbread Cookie Sandwiches with Nutella Filling on Food Frenzy's "Holiday Cookies" Challenge. Voting runs the 15th through the 24th...please do vote for it! ;)



Ingredients:
Yield 16 Cookie Sandwiches and 16 small tree Shortbread Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Nutella for filling
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
• Red and Green Sprinkles

Procedure:
1. Sift together flour and salt. Set aside.  
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract. Slowly mix in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until just blended. Chill dough for 30 mins.

3. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Meanwhile, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2 to 3 inch star cookie cutter, cut out the dough. Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a small Christmas tree cutter to cut out the centers of the cookies on one baking sheet. Don't throw the tree cutouts. You can sprinkle them with green sugar and bake them too.

 

4. Place the unbaked cookies on the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.
5. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until bottom of cookies are lightly browned. Allow to completely cool down. When cooled, dust the top of the cookies with the cut-out with confectioners' sugar. Spread the bottom surface of the full cookie with about 1 tsp of nutella.

6. Place the cut-out cookie on top of the full cookie and gently sandwich them together, making sure not to smug the confectioners' sugar. 

7. Decorate the center with red & green sprinkles. Arrange in serving plate and serve.