Shortbread Cookies

• 10 oz. (2 cups) sifted all-purpose flour
• 8 oz. (1 cup) butter
• 4 oz. (0.5 cup) sifted caster sugar
• 0.5 tsp. salt
• 0.5 tsp. vanilla extract
• Fig or raspberry jam or other suitable material

Take the butter out of the fridge to soften for a bit, then put everything except the jam in the food processor. Whirl for 20 seconds or so until you have a homogenous dough.

Lay the dough out in a sausage shape on a piece of wax paper and roll it into a cylinder about 2" in diameter. Work on this until there are no visible cracks. Place it in the freezer for 25 minutes or the fridge for 2 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F, and cut the dough into thin disks. Place these on a parchment-covered cookie sheet.

Depending how runny your jam is, you may need to simmer it gently for 10–15 minutes to thicken it a bit.

You can either top the raw cookies with a little jam now, for thumb-cookies (make a small depression in the top with your thumb and spoon a little jam in), or make sandwich-style cookies after you've done the baking.

Bake the cookies for 13–15 minutes, until the edges are just golden.

Remove them from the hot baking sheet very carefully with a spatula, for they will fall apart very easily at this stage, and cool them on a rack.

If you're not making thumb-cookies, then when they and the jam have cooled, spread a little jam on half the cookies and top them with the other half to make little sandwiches.