Be mine? I’ve got soft jammy heart-shaped sweetness to persuade you. These vegan sourdough jam sandwich cookies are perfect for anytime of year, but become extra-special in heart cutouts for Valentine’s Day. Soft lemon-vanilla sourdough sugar cookies are filled with sweet-tart raspberry jam for the perfect love-filled treat.
Save your sourdough discards for these and plan to make them a day ahead because something magical happens when you let them sit overnight and the jam sets up and infuses into the cookies and softens them to just the right texture. Its sublime happy cookie joy! Use 100% hydration sourdough starter, which simply means starter made and fed with equal parts of flour and water by weight.
Not a fan of raspberry jam? Switch it up with any jam you like! My son Iley loves these and they are perfect sweet treats to pack into school lunches as well. I’ll be making them again and again all year round!
Happy Valentine’s Day sweet friends!
xx Kaity
scroll for recipe…
Sourdough Jam Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup vegan shortening
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 cup sugar
- zest of 1 lemon finely grated
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 cup sourdough starter
- 1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup raspberry jam
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, arrowroot powder, baking soda and salt.
- Cream together shortening, oil and sugar with a handheld or stand mixer. Mix in vanilla and almond extracts and lemon zest.
- Whisk together non-dairy milk, apple cider vinegar and sourdough starter, then beat into creamed mixture until combined.
- Add dry ingredients and mix until just evenly incorporated
- Cut 2 large sheets of parchment paper. Lay one out on a work surface and lightly dust with flour. Turn dough out onto parchment, pat into a rectangle and dust lightly with flour. Cover with second sheet of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4" thickness. Slide dough, still between parchment paper sheets, onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Take dough out of fridge and slide it back onto the work surface. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper. Use a roughly 2" heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out 24 hearts. Rework and roll scraps if needed to get 24 cookies. Use mini heart cutters to cut small heart-shaped windows in 12 of the cookies. These will be the tops of the cookie sandwiches.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer cookie cutouts to baking sheets with the help of an offset spatula, 12 per each sheet.
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- While oven preheats, place cookie sheets in the freezer to firm up the dough. This will help the cookies retain their shape during baking.
- Once oven is preheated to 350˚F. Take cookies out of freezer and bake for 12 minutes, switching racks halfway through baking, until they are light golden brown and slightly puffed.
- Transfer cookies to cooling racks and cool to room temperature.
- Once cookies are cool pair up tops and bottoms. Spread about a teaspoon of jam on each of the bottom cookies. Then place the top cookies over the jam.
- It is best to store the sandwich cookies in an container overnight to allow the jam to set and soften the cookies a little. Cookies will keep stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Use 100% hydration sourdough starter, meaning equal parts flour and water by weight.
- You can definitely eat these cookies right away but they get better once the jam sets and softens them a bit, so try to wait until the next day to enjoy them!
Special Equipment:
*The following are Amazon Affiliate links. Read more about my affiliate policy here.
Prop Love: Table linens by Nade Studio. Speckled bowl by Facture Goods. Rolling pin by Early Wood. Small wood spoon by Sweet Gum Co.
Ariana
What could I use instead of arrowroot and vegan shortening as I can’t find these where I live? Thanks
Kaity Farrell
Hi Ariana! Thanks for your questions. You can try to swap arrowroot with cornstarch. The purpose of the arrowroot is to help the cookies keep the shape of the cutouts. You can also try replacing it with more flour. I think all shortening is actually vegan, there’s just higher quality brands, some with coconut oil added. I used Nutiva brand for these. If you cant find a shortening you like, you can use a vegan butter instead. If you do use butter I would let it soften at room temp first and also swap it for the canola oil, so use 6 tablespoons of softened butter and leave out the canola oil. Thanks for reading! xx Kaity
Jennifer
May I ask what is 1/4 of the sourdough? Since I am making really large batches I’m pretty sure I don’t a fourth of that 🙂
Kaity Farrell
Ah! Thanks for catching that! It’s 1/4 cup of sourdough starter. I will update the recipe. xx Kaity
Melissa
Delicious! I made these for a friend who is allergic to nuts so I used regular milk and only vanilla extract. I filled half with strawberry jam to use up what was already open and the other half with lemon curd. The lemon curd took these over the top! Thank you for sharing another delicious way to use my sourdough discard. I will definitely make these again. They were a fun treat.
Kaity Farrell
Thank you, Melissa. The lemon curd filling sounds amazing. Will have to try it. xx Kaity
Kaity Farrell
test