Little Joys

These little sandwich cookies are all about the butter and ground hazelnuts doing the talking. The dough is rich and short, more like a European tea biscuit than an American cookie. Each one is barely an inch across, pressed flat with a sugar-dipped glass, and baked just until the edges hint at color.

The raspberry jam filling goes on the flat side of one cookie, then gets sandwiched with another. That thin layer of fruit adds tartness against all that buttery sweetness.

Top them with a simple confectioners’ sugar icing, piped or drizzled, and tint it with food coloring if you’re feeling festive. They look like they came from a European bakery display case.

Pro Tips

• Ground hazelnuts make the cookies tender but fragile. Handle gently after baking and let them cool completely on the rack before filling.
• Dip the glass bottom in powdered sugar before flattening each ball. This prevents sticking and gives the tops a clean, smooth finish.
• Bake just until they begin to color, not until golden. Overbaked, they lose their melt-in-your-mouth texture and turn crunchy.
• Use seedless raspberry jam so the filling spreads smoothly and doesn’t tear the delicate cookies.

Variations

• Swap hazelnuts for finely ground macadamia nuts for a richer, more tropical flavor.
• Use apricot preserves instead of raspberry for a milder, less tart filling.
• Add ½ teaspoon almond extract to the dough alongside the vanilla for a more aromatic cookie.