What do you get when you make sandwich cookies in the shape of your favorite glyph, namely, the ampersand?
Why, ampersandwich cookies, of course.
Get it? Ha!
I crack myself up sometimes.
Ever-obsessed with all things ampersand, I had purchased this cookie cutter on Etsy over a year ago, and have been waiting for an excuse to use it.
This year’s cookie swap turned out to be the perfect occasion.
In brainstorming flavor options for my ampersandwich cookies, I wanted a flavor combo that would reinforce their conjunctive shape, so peanut butter & jelly seemed extra appropriate. Emphasis on the &.
These is not your elementary-school pb&j. The linzer cookies contain finely ground peanuts in place of the typical almonds or hazelnuts usually found in this type of cookie. So no actual peanut butter, though we’ll still call them as such because peanut and jelly doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. And there are both peanuts AND butter in there so technically it’s still accurate.
The fancy jam filling is like chocolate ganache meets strawberry jam. Or chocolate ganache mixed with strawberry jam, if you will. I’ve been calling it strawberry chocolate ganache, but chocolate strawberry jam is applicable too.
After eating just one of the tender, buttery cookies, you won’t be able to resist reaching for another.
& another…
& another…
Until they’ve disappeared.
If you plan on making asymmetrical sandwich cookies like these, remember to bake half your cookies upside down. Then you can match up the sandwiches with the ugly bottoms hidden on the inside.
Another consideration if you want to acheive the traditional linzer effect, the bottoms of the sandwich cookies need to be solid, while the tops have the openings for the filling to show through. I cut out my bottom ampersands, flipped them on the cookie sheet, and then replaced the counterspaces.
Of course, you can always go the traditional route and cut out simple circles with stars, hearts, and diamond shaped windows. They’ll taste just as good, even if they aren’t ampersandwiches.
Adapted from Epicurious.
All images and text © Lindsay Landis / Love & Olive OilLet us know what you think!
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This year’s Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap was a resounding success. Our participants, all 475 of them, together with our brand partners OXO, Land ‘O Lakes, and Dixie Crystals, jointly raised over $7,000 for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. We couldn’t be more pleased. Or happily stuffed (with cookies of course).
If you missed out on this year’s swap, be sure to sign up for our notifications list and get an email when preparations begin for next year’s swap!
My cookies (clockwise from top left): Super Chocolaty cookies from Jessie Sheehan Bakes, Almond Cookies with Brown Sugar Pear Frosting from The Kitchen Adventurer, Brown Butter Milk Chocolate Toffee Almond Cookies from The Little Kitchen (Julie and I always send each other cookies separately from our 3 swap matches), and Danish Vanilla Rings from Recipe Runner. Seriously impressive, y’all.
Stay tuned, as Julie and I will be gathering all the cookie recipes from participating bloggers and sharing them with you in one giant round up this weekend! It’s a doozy. A delicious, delicious doozy.