Linzer Cookies

 I was planning on making linzer cookies for Christmas this year. I got a bit behind in my preparations though and ran out of time. The linzer cookies still got made, but I had to ask TF to do it while I was out running errands. I got the recipe here and they came out pretty well. I'd like to try them again sometime with different flavour combinations.

Linzer Cookies
2/3 c. almonds
1/4 c. lemon sugar (1 c. granulated sugar to grated zest of 1 lemon)
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 Tbsp. icing sugar
raspberry jam (I used strawberry instead)

1. Toast the almonds for a few minutes either on the stovetop or in the oven at 350F. Once cool, grind to a powder and set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. (I used some of the left over dry ingredients from making my gingerbread for this, so I left out the cinnamon since there were already some spices in the flour.)
3. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract. (I forgot to tell TF to use half vanilla and half almond, so it was all vanilla in this batch.)
5. Gradually beat in the almonds, followed by the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
6. Chill for at least three hours.
7. Roll out dough about 1/8" thick. Make half of the cookies solid and half with cut-outs.
8. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
9. Cool and sprinkle icing sugar on the cookies with cut-outs.
10. Flip the solid cookies upside down and spread a little jam on each one. Top with the sugar'd cut-out cookies.

Almond cookies with either apricot or raspberry jam is traditional for these cookies. I'd like to try some other combinations though: peanut cookies with grape jelly, ginger cookies with apple jelly, chocolate cookies with marmalade, etc.