Linzer Heart Sandwich Cookies

I tried a couple Linzer recipes, and this dough was my favorite. It produces a delicate and tender cookie with lots of room for imagination when it comes to fillings. Prep time includes 2 hours of chilling time for the dough. Note: As you rework leftover dough, it will need to be chilled again before cutting out new cookies. I suggest working in batches and placing re-worked dough in the freezer as you bake your cookies. I typically manage to get 15 complete sandwich cookies from this recipe. Adapted from Wilton.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 25 mins
• Yields: 15 cookies

Ingredients

• 2  cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2⁄3 cup  ground almonds (or almond flour)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1  cup butter, softened
• 2⁄3 cup granulated sugar
• 1  egg
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄8-1⁄4 teaspoon  almond extract
•  confectioners' sugar (for dusting)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, ground almonds, and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix well.
4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing only until incorporated.
5. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Press each piece into a small disk (about 1-inch thick) between two sheets of parchment paper. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm enough to roll (the dough is very sticky to work with otherwise).
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Work with one piece of dough at a time while the remainder stays in the fridge. On a floured surface, roll out one disk of dough 1/8-inch thick.
8. Using cookie cutters of your choosing (I love hearts), cut out pieces of dough. For half of your cookies, punch out the center of the cookies with a smaller cookie cutter for that classic Linzer sandwich presentation.
9. Any remaining dough scraps can be reused, but they must be chilled for at least 30 minutes before they are rerolled.
10. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.
11. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
12. Once cool, spread the whole/bottom cookies with about a teaspoon of jam (or filling of your choosing).
13. Dust the top of the top cookies with confectioners' sugar.
14. Gently sandwich jam'ed bottom and top cookies together.