Copy Cat Harry and David Fruit Galettes ~ my homemade version of these soft shortbread sandwich cookies filled with fruit preserves are simply amazing. I’ve included custom gift tags to go along with them, just download and print!
If you ask me what my favorite commercially made cookie is, I’d say Harry and David’s Fruit Galettes. I could eat a dozen at a time without blinking, so it’s a good thing they only come into our house once a year, at most, if someone happens to send them for the holidays. I wouldn’t dream of ordering them for myself, for one thing it would be like throwing my hard earned dollars down the gullet, they’d disappear before I could even really appreciate them.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t love a great copy cat recipe so I could whip them up from scratch at a fraction of the cost.
These are a simple shortbread sandwich cookie filled with jam, but if you’ve ever had one of Harry and David’s galettes you know that the shortbread is super soft, with a hint of almond flavor, and the jam filling is extra tangy and delicious. When it comes to desserts I’m usually a chocoholic all the way, but these cookies get me every time.
Making them at home is not only a cost saver, but homemade cookies always have the edge over commercial brands. Even the best bakeries can’t compete with the quality ingredients we use in our homemade holiday cookies ~ the best butter and jam the supermarket offers….and what about all that love we bake into our holiday treats? I don’t think the commercial bakeries include that in their list of ingredients.
Unless you have some fabulous homemade jam stacked in the store cupboard you’ll have to decide on what to buy. I think Harry and David use peach, raspberry, and blackberry. I got so excited in the jam aisle I came home with three too ~
- Bon Maman Raspberry because I know and love it (I’ve featured it in my Classic Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe.) It has a nice tart flavor that’s perfect in these cookies.
- Stonewall Kitchen Black Raspberry, because SK is probably the highest quality jam in the store, and who else makes black raspberry?
- And then I noticed Bon Maman has a new line out called their ‘intense’ line. That has my name written all over it, so I picked up the Apricot.
You can use just about anything to fill these sandwich cookies, I’d love to try Meyer lemon or blood orange curd, which you can find in my Easy Microwave Citrus Curd post. Or my Microwave Cranberry Curd. As long as it’s strongly flavored, tangy, and fruity, it will work. And btw if you do have some exotic homemade preserves on hand, I can imagine all kinds of interesting ideas like rose hip jelly, Clementine Jam, or homemade marmalade.
TIP: Try to resist the urge to put too much jam in the center of these cookies, it’s tempting to load it on, but it will ooze out if you’re not careful. I suggest looking for jams that are on the thick side to prevent this. If you have a jam you want to use that’s loose, put it in a small saucepan and boil it down briefly until it thickens.
Download these customized tags to include with all your gifts …holiday gifting done simple!
You can print them on a home computer, or, even better, have them printed on glossy card stock by an office store like Kinkos, FedEx, or Staples. You can do everything easily online and pick them up at your local store, they’ll even cut them for you. If you’re giving these cookies to everyone on your list, that’s a convenient way to go.
You cannot buy anything like this at retail, (except at Harry and David’s) and so I think this makes the perfect homemade cookie gift. If you’re not lucky enough to receive the originals, this copy cat recipe does very nicely.
Copy Cat Harry and David Fruit Galettes
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 228 grams) butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract, use vanilla if you like
- 1 large egg
- 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
filling
- jam, use a relatively thick jam for this cookie
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the extract. Then beat in the egg, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated.
- Whisk the baking powder and flour, and slowly add to the bowl while keeping the mixer on low until the dough comes together. Scrape the bowl again, and finish mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands to bring the dough completely together. Form into a flat disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350F Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, try to get it just under 1/4 inch. Cut the dough into rounds using a small cookie or biscuit cutter. My cutter measures just under 2 inches across. Carefully transfer the dough to the baking sheet, 1 inch apart.
- Bake the cookies for about 8-9 minutes. Note: they will not brown, and will still be completely pale when done. Don't over-bake because you want your cookies to be soft. I like to do a test cookie or two to check my settings and timing.
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes, then cool completely on a rack. Put a small amount of jam in the middle of one cookie and top it with another. Press down gently.
Make these Copy Cat Harry and David Fruit Galettes your own ~
- Ditch the fruit and fill them with chocolate ganache or Nutella.
- Make them ahead and freeze the shortbread cookies, then fill with jam after they defrost. See my Complete Guide to Freezing Cookies for more details.
Hey can I use a whisk to mix the ingredients?
yes, you can do the dough by hand, I’d use a wooden spoon or something sturdy to cream the butter and sugar.
These are lovely. Do you think the dough would work in a cookie press?
Hey Johanna ~ I’m afraid this dough wouldn’t be good for a cookie press, the cookies puff too much. I recommend using a recipe specifically made for a cookie press, like my Cardamom Spritz cookies. You can omit the cardamom and change the flavor profile to vanilla for a basic spritz.
Do you have any recommendations for baking these lovely cookies at high altitude (5,300ft)?
Hi Allison, that’s such a complicated issue I usually refer readers to the King Arthur Flour guide, here.
My sister and I love the H&D galettes so much and I’m hoping to bake these and ship them down to her…Do you have any recommendation for how best to package these to ship them overnight to someone? (Aesthetic not as important to me as hopefully getting down to her as fresh as possible) Thank you!
These are soft and delicate, so packing them close together with no movement is important. You could surround them with bubble wrap or shipping peanuts and that should do the trick.
where can you buy some really nice cookie tins ?
I’d search Amazon, Darla, they have a lot of cookie containers of all types.
I’m not much of a baker but these turned out great! Made them heart shaped for Valentine’s. Happy to send you a picture!
I should have done that for the blog this year Emily, they sound great! If you have an Instagram account you can tag me there, and I’m in the process of setting up a special facebook group for followers of tvfgi so we can all share stuff like this, stay tuned.
Hi, my dad loves the H&D version of these so I’m excited to try this recipe out and include them in his Christmas gift.
I was just wondering why powdered sugar is used in the dough as opposed to granulated sugar? I’ve never made any cookies that called for powdered sugar, so I was just curious what the advantage is for powdered sugar in this recipe. Thanks!
I find it makes the cookies more tender, and closer to that amazing texture of the originals, Stephanie.
Is this recipe for salted butter or unsalted butter? Looking forward to making these!
I always use unsalted butter unless otherwise stated. Hope you love them!
Well I just got through scarfing down the last of my Raspberry Galette cookies from H&D that were in the package sent for my birthday. Went to price out just getting the cookies, and the had them in boxes 8 oz. each (mind was small container with 4 twin-packs of cookies (total 8) that were astoundingly good. The reviews of the boxed versions, which I would HOPE would be the same are mixed and tend to reflect disappointment in quality. That and $32 plus S/H (no coupons on this one) and it’s really cost prohibitive.
I was wondering, not really being a baker, and concerned with my sugar intake, if there is a means of substituting Stevia exact or the newer, popular monk fruit liquid or granules for the sugar. I’ve yet to try monk fruit, and I know that baking is more science than traditional cooking, so I don’t know if “creaming” is an integral part of the process that would otherwise fail if using a liquid sugar substitute. There are sugar-free preserves as well, though the small amount used could probably merit the real deal. Anyway, would love your thoughts, also if there’s a way to use almond flour in lieu of grains for those who are on Keto or Paleo. I’ve a friend who grew up in a bakery, so with your suggestions, perhaps he can make some of these for me on the cheap. 😉 Many thanks!
Hey Marc, I hear you about the cost of those delicious Harry and David cookies! I haven’t tried these with a sugar substitute, and I don’t have a lot of experience with it, but yes, you would want to try one in granulated form, preferably one that can be substituted 1:1 for the sugar in this recipe. You can fine many sugar free preserves if you want that for the filling. As for the almond flour, I’m sure you can make these cookies gluten free, but I might try a good quality gf baking mix first, as that would be the easiest swap for regular flour. Good luck!
This recipe was absolutely delicious! My niece even said these cookies tasted better than the Harry & David’s (I agree!). She isn’t a fan of the almond flavoring in the original cookies, so I used vanilla. I followed the recipe exactly as is. The dough was aromatic and came together nicely. Using real butter and a real fruit middle is essential. I didn’t have any cookie cutters, so I used the lid of one my spice bottles (It was perfectly two inches and make sure to wash it out). I will be making these again. Thank you for this recipe.