LINZER COOKIES

Many years ago now my youngest son was still in high school and my daughter who is the oldest of my three children would gather with me in the kitchen and we would do an entire day or two of cookie making.
One of the tastiest cookies we made were the Linzer Cookies. The very first time they took a really long time to make. When I found a gadget that was specifically for making these wonderful cookies it made the process a lot easier.
It definitely helps to have some extra hands in creating these. The photograph below shows the cookie maker for Linzer cookies and of course any other type with a filling.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pecans - finely chopped
• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at
   room temperature
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1⁄4 tsp. salt
• About 1⁄4 cup seedless raspberry jam
• Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:

In a food processor, finely grind the pecans using short pulses. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until fluffy and pale yellow. Add the granulated sugar and continue beating until combined. Reduce the speed to low. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until blended.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon and salt into another bowl. Add the ground pecans and stir to blend. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon until blended. The dough should be soft. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide into 4 equal portions and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Remove 1 portion of the dough at a time from the refrigerator, place between 2 sheets of waxed paper and roll out 1⁄4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter about 2 1⁄2 inches in diameter, cut out the cookies. Using a 1 1⁄4-inch cutter, cut a hole in the center of half of the cookies. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough, then reroll the dough scraps as needed to make 24 cutouts total, cutting holes in half of them. If the dough becomes sticky, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes before rolling out.

Using a thin spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are firm to the touch, about 12 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks. Loosen the cookies with the spatula, but leave the cookies on the sheets until thoroughly cooled.

To assemble, spread the solid cookies with a thin layer (about 1 tsp.) of raspberry jam to within about 1⁄4 inch of the edges. Dust the cutout cookies generously with confectioners' sugar. Top the solid cookies with the cutout cookies.

Makes 1 dozen cookies.
Adapted from: William Sonoma