These pillow cookies are an irresistible melt-in-you-mouth treat: two honey shortbread cookies filled with jam and topped with powdered sugar. Truly a pillowy delight!
There’s a grocery store chain in the southeast of the US that sells these “pillow cookies,” which are buttery soft cookies filled with either almond paste, chocolate, or raspberry jam. The latter was my favorite as a kid and since then I’ve always wanted to figure out a way to make them at home. This recipe draws from my honey ginger shortbread dough, with a few tweaks. The process is very simple: roll the dough out and cut out 3-4 inch round cookies (you can adjust and modify the size based on the cookie cutter or glass you have at home), fill with jam (any jam you like!), bake and top with some powdered sugar. Easy to make and elegant, these pillow cookies are definitely worth a try!
Ingredients:
Wet Ingredients
- Butter– must be room temperature!
- Sugar– if you only have brown sugar on hand, that works just as well in this recipe.
- Honey– I like the texture that the honey gives to the cookies as well as the very subtle floral hints the honey gi it when baked.
- Jam– homemade (recipe at the bottom) or store bought. I prefer raspberry jam, but any flavor will do.
Dry Ingredients
- Flour (all-purpose) + baking powder+ salt
- Powdered sugar (for the final decorative flourish)
Pillow Cookie Dough
Forming the Dough: When you first mix the ingredients all together, you might get small, pebble-like clusters in the bowl but just keep mixing until slightly bigger clumps start to form. The two images show the different texture changes. Once you see the dough start to clump together more, stop mixing and dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Mold into a ball shape and put in the fridge for 20 minutes at least.
Ready to Bake: When you’re ready, roll out the dough on a wooden or marble board. You’ll need to sprinkle some flour (about 2 tbspn) on the board, rolling pin and your hands so that the dough doesn’t stick. When you’re rolling, peel a bit of the dough layer up to make sure it’s not sticking. If it is, just lift the whole layer up and form into a ball, dust the board with flour, and roll again. It may take a few tries because this starts off as a sticky dough, but just keep adding flour bit by bit as you roll the dough out (scraping up the bits into a ball if too sticky) and after a few minutes you’ll get a dough that doesn’t stick. Roll out to about 1/4 inch in thickness.
Take a 3-4 inch cookie cutter ( a tall glass will do just as well) to cut out roughly 10- 12 circles from the dough. Place cookies on a baking sheet tray lined with parchment paper. On half of the circles, scoop 1 teaspoon (or 1 tabslpoon if using a 4-inch cutter) of jam onto the center of the circle. Take the remaining circles and gently place each directly over the jam-covered cookie circle. Using your fingers, press the edges of the cookies together (leave the middle alone). If you want a cleaner finish around the edges, take a slightly smaller cookie cutter or glass and press down to seal the edges. Trim away any excess dough. Place cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes so that they don’t lose their shape in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. After 10 minutes in the freezer, bake pillow cookies for 12-13 minutes in the oven. Once the cookies start to turn a golden color on the edges, take them out and let them cool.
Pillow Cookie Filling
When I have time, I like to make my own raspberry jam to fill these cookies, but store bought jam works just as well. Feel free to sub any flavor of your choosing. My personal favorite is raspberry, but I’ve also made these with apricot jam and they were just as delicous! If you already have jam on hand, feel free to skip down to the pillow cookie assembly section. If not, then make your own raspberry jam with my short recipe below!
Homemade Raspberry Jam
In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of frozen raspberries with 1/3 cup sugar, juice from half of a lemon, and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch (make sure it’s sifted!). Let this reach a gentle boil and then let simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Turn off heat and let cool for 20 minutes. The jam WILL thicken once cooled, trust me! Leftover jam can be kept in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to two days.
Frozen Raspberries: I like to use frozen so that I can make this at any time of year, but you can use fresh raspberries if you prefer. You can also sub frozen raspberries for blueberries or blackberries.
Sugar: I find that 1/3 cup sugar is just the right amount of sweetness but if you’d like to experiment adding less, you can add 1/4 cup at first and taste the jam while it simmers to adjust the amount.
Lemon juice: Truly enhances the tart/sweet flavor of the raspberries and adds some brightness.
Cornstarch: I normally don’t add cornstarch to my homemade fruit compotes/jams, but for these cookies the filling needs to be slightly thicker. Jam that is too liquidy might lead to seepage during baking. Make sure to sift the teaspoon of cornstarch so that you don’t end up with annoying granules of cornstarch!
Let cookies cool and then sift some powdered sugar on the tops of the cookies. Store in an airtight container for up two days.
Pillow Cookies
Equipment
- 1 sheet tray
- 1 handheld mixer or stand mixer
- 1 4-in cookie cutter or tall glass
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp butter, room temp
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup raspberry jam (storebought or homemade, recipe below)
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
Homemade raspberry Jam
- 1 cup frozen raspberries
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice (approx. 1/2 of a lemon)
- 1 tsp sifted cornstarch
Instructions
- Using a handheld mixer on medium speed, mix the butter and sugar for 2-3 mins until it becomes paler and fluffier (also called creaming the butter and sugar).
- Add in honey and vanilla and mix on medium until thoroughly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the flour bowl to the sugar mixture and mix on medium-low for 2 minutes until it all comes together. If you're getting small, pebble-like crumbles, just keep mixing until larger chunks start to appear and a dough-like consistency forms.
- Once all ingredients come together, put dough on a sheet of cling wrap and form into a ball (it doesn't need to be perfect). Place in fridge for a minimum of 15 minutes.
- When ready to roll out dough, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out log of dough to 1⁄4 inch thick and use a 3-4 in. round cookie cutters or a tall glass to cut out around a dozen circles. Place them on the baking sheet. *You will need to generously flour your board, rolling pin, and dough several times during this process because this is a fairly sticky dough.
- On half of the rounds, place 1 tsp of jam in the middle. Take the remaining cookie circles and place them on top of each jam -covered cookie and press around the sides with your finger or spoon to make sure the cookies are sealed together around the sides. If the edges aren't even, take your cookie cutter or glass and press to ensure the sides are sealed and even. Discard any trim from this final cookie cutting. Place the assembled cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from freezer and bake for about 12-14 mins until the cookie is golden brown. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before sprinkling the tops with a generous amount of powdered sugar.
Homemade Raspberry Jam
- In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of frozen raspberries with 1/3 cup sugar, juice from half of a lemon, and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch (make sure it's sifted!). Let this reach a gentl boil and then let simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Turn off heat and let cool for 20 minutes. The jam will thicken once cooled.