Made especially for Valentines Day
Decadent!
This recipe can be easily increased by 1.5 or 2 times.You will need:
2/3 cups sugar
1 C unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
1t vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon
.5t cinnamon
.25t ground cloves
.25t salt
1 C nuts, ground in the food processor (I use almonds, but could use hazelnuts or pecans)
2+ C flour
1 cup Red Jam. (Mom’s plum is best, but any kind of berry would work, too)
Optional: 2 blocks semisweet chocolate or 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Parchment paper
Nesting cookie cutters, one larger than the other. I use a larger round with a smaller heart. Could use two hearts, two rounds, etc.
Beat sugar and butter for 5 minutes until very frothy
Add the egg yolks, vanilla, zest and spices
Reduce speed on mixer and add the nut “flour” and regular flour. Dough will be pretty firm at this point.
Wrap in 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until chilled.
Heat oven to 350. Line pans with parchment.
Roll dough to about 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour if needed to counter.
Cut out circles (Larger of the two cookie cutters). On half of them, cut a heart out of the middle. (Make sure you have an even number of solids/cut out pairs.
Bake the solid circles, the circles with a heart cut out and the inside hearts for 10-15 minutes. Let cool on racks.
Warm jam in a pan to slightly reduce and thicken, about 5 minutes.
Invert the solid cookie, spread jam and top with the cut out cookies. Fill in the opening with a bit more jam.
Make small heart sandwiches with the inside hearts.
Can dust with powdered sugar at this point.
Optional Chocolate drizzle:
Melt chocolate with a bit of butter or vegetable oil to prevent graying. May have to add some water to make it thin enough to drizzle. Use a spoon or a squeeze bottle.
Line up the cookies very close to each other on the parchment and drizzle the chocolate in diagonal streaks. You can also half dip the small heart sandwiches.
