Flavoured with almond, lemon and vanilla, these easy to make Jam Sandwich cookies are an anytime treat. This cookie reminds me of the biscuit tins we (rarely) received as birthday gifts when we were children, with tempting looking jam biscuits painted on them. The recipe is adapted from the Raspberry Jam sandwich recipe in Martha Day's 'Baking.'

Its that time of the year when ones thoughts turn to baking treats for the Christmas spread. With so many recipes to choose from, this easy jam sandwich cookie is a sure bet, and will be loved by all. Make plenty of these cookies as it is almost impossible to stop after eating just one!

The recipe for the Jam sandwich cookies or Linzer cookies is based on the famous 17th Century Linzertorte - said to be one of the world's oldest recipes for torte. What is special about the recipe is that the Jam sandwich cookies are made mainly from nuts rather than from flour, so what you get are really almond jam sandwich cookies. Traditionally, blackcurrant preserve was used in the torte. Nowadays raspberry and apricot jams are popular in the jam cookie.

As the name suggests, you are going to make a cookie sandwich, so you will make circular and ring shaped cookies and make the jam sandwich cookies by spreading jam between the circle and the ring.

As in the instructions in the recipe below, remember to prepare the jam spread with water, just after taking the cookies out of the over, so that you can apply the jam to the cookies before the jam hardens.

Use any shape of cookie cutter to cut out the hole in the ring shaped pieces - a plain round one, or even a star shaped one - it will make the cookies look more interesting.

The images are for a dark jam like Raspberry, but you could substitute with a mango jam or actually any jam of your preference! Apricot or blueberry jam make lovely jam sandwich cookies too.

The recipe is quite simple, though there are several steps involved in putting the cookies together into a sandwich.

Instead of sprinkling almond flakes on the cookies, confectioners sugar could be dusted on the ring shaped tops, before spreading jam to make the sandwich.

For detailed steps on how to blanch almonds and make almond flour, refer my recipe for Badam Halwa

"Recipe"

Almond Raspberry Jam Sandwich Cookies

Sujata Shukla

Flavoured with lemon and vanilla, these easy to make jam almond cookies are an anytime treat.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 1 50

Course Snack

Servings pieces

Ingredients

170 gms Almonds (6 oz) unsalted
170 gms all purpose flour (maida) (6 oz)
170 gms unsalted butter (6 oz)
115 gms brown sugar light brown sugar (4 oz)
½ teaspoon lemon zest Grated
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg white
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
30 gms almond flakes or confectioners sugar (1 oz)
250 ml raspberry jam or other jam (8 fl oz)

Instructions

How to Blanch Almonds

Place the unsalted almonds in a pan of boiling water for 60 -120 seconds.
Remove from the hot water and rinse immediately for a few seconds in cold water.
Rub away the almond peel with your fingers or a napkin. Dry completely on a clean napkin and set aside.

Prepare the cookie dough

Measure and prepare the ingredients, making sure that everything is at room temperature
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 8 minutes - you will be able to smell their fragrance by then.
Process 3 tbsps of the flour along with the dry blanched almonds in a food processor/ blender until ground to a fine powder.
Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, in an processor or beat by hand. Fold in the lemon rind and vanilla essence.
Add the remaining flour and the ground almond flour to the butter sugar mixture and mix till the ingredients are combined into dough.
Gather the dough together, wrap in cling wrap or greaseproof paper, and refrigerate for at least an hour. You can chill the dough upto a day.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 deg F/ 170 deg C.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or greaseproof paper.
Mince the flaked almonds to small bits and keep aside. (skip this step if decorating with sugar)
Divide the cooled and set dough into 4 parts and work with each, as below, keeping the rest of the dough refrigerated while you work one part at a time.
Roll out each part to a thickness of about 3mm (⅛ inch) on a lightly floured surface.
Using a cookie cutter, cut out circular pieces of about 6cm each. Roll the scraps of dough flat again and cut out circular pieces, keeping the thickness uniform.
Repeat with the remaining dough until as many cookies as possible have been cut out.
Using a 2cm piping nozzle or a round cutter, cut out holes of 2cm in the middle of just half the cookie rounds so that you get an equal number of circular and ring shapes.
Arrange the circle shapes on one baking sheet and the ring shapes on another, keeping each shape about 1" apart from the next.
Whisk the white of one egg with the salt till it is frothy.
Lightly brush the Ring shapes alone, with the egg white. Sprinkle with the minced almond flakes. (skip this step if decorating with sugar)
Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes till the cookies begin to brown. Rotate the baking tray half way through. As oven temperatures and baking times can vary, take the sheets out of the oven once you see them begin to brown.
After 5 minutes, transfer the cookies from the sheet onto a rack. if decorating with sugar, dust the sugar onto the tops (ring shapes)
Meanwhile as the cookies are cooling, add lemon juice to the jam and melt in a pan on low heat, till it comes to a simmer.
Brush the jam with a pastry brush onto the circle shapes and cover each of the circles with a ring shape so the jam comes up in the ring.
Serve immediately, or store when completely cooled, in an airtight container between layers of greaseproof sheets.