Raspberry Shortbread Cookie Recipe

0 Start by placing the freeze-dried raspberries in a closed bag, and smashing them with your hand until you have the raspberries in very small chunks (not raspberry powder!). Set aside.Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper, and pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
1 Start beating the butter and sugar in a large bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer and a mixing bowl) in medium speed for 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract, scrape the sides of the bowl and mix.
2 Add the flour and salt, mixing in low speed; increase speed to medium and beat until everything is well incorporated, and large crumbles form. Fold in the dried-freeze raspberries carefully, using a spatula.
3 Dust your roller pin and lightly your surface (not much flour) and roll the dough 1/6" thickness . If your dough is too soft, cover and refrigerate until hard enough to handle. 
4 Use a square cookie cutter of around 1 3/4" to shape dough and cut your cookies. Then, use a mini heart cookie cutter of around 1/2" to cut a heart in the centers of half of the cookies. With the help of a spatula, lift your cookies, remove the heart center (when applicable) and place them on the prepared cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
5 Bake the first batch of cookies, 1.5" apart from each other, in the middle wire rack of your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a light golden brown, one cookie tray at a time. In the meantime, leave the rest of the unbaked cookies in the fridge. Cookies will look puffy, but will get to a normal size after they cool down.
6 Remove the first batch from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes in the cookie sheet, while the second batch is in the oven. After 10 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack while the second batch is cooling on the cookie sheet. Repeat until all cookies are baked and completely cooled.
7 Spoon 1 teaspoon of raspberry filling into the bottom raspberry cookie, and place the top cookie (the one with the heart) on top. You can add a tiny bit of additional jam to fill the heart a bit more if necessary.