Baking is very time consuming, and it has to be followed or else things go awry in a hurry. Make sure you have a couple hours to kill and a few beers and don't do this alone because its no fun to bake alone. The cookies are just as sweet as the torte and they are a great sugar fix. The jam that you use has to be thick or else it will run wild all over the place and you will disappoint guests and their outfits. Show some pride and do it right. Makes 30 cookies
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 lemons, zest of
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups almonds , ground up in food processor
2 cups all purpose flour
2 pinches ground cloves
powdered sugar for dusting
2 cups good quality raspberry jam
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing machine, add the sugar and the butter and whip on high speed till light and creamy. Add the eggs and the lemon zest and mix for another minute until incorporated. In a separate mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix well then add to the wet ingredients and mix well. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into three disks. Place into plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes or until pliable.
For the bottoms:
On a floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thickness and take cookie cutters and cut out your cookies quickly before the dough gets soft. Place each cookie on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and nonstick spray. Bake for 8-10 minutes and taste one for the record. It should be somewhat soft but not too hard. Take out and let cool.
For the tops:
Using a cookie cutter that has the center cut out, repeat the used for the bottoms. Once the cookies are done baking you may start putting a dollop of jam in the center of each. Do not spread the jam, let it sit in a ball as when you put the top cookie on it will look nice and neat and not sloppy. Before you put the top cookie on, dust it with powdered sugar and then place on top of jam and serve.