Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

 

Wonderful flavors of almond and cherry in this heart shaped Valentine Cookie

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup finely ground almonds

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

5 tablespoons cherry jam

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add egg, milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Scrape down sides of the bowl, and beat on medium-high until fully incorporated about 1 minute.

Scrape down sides of the bowl again and add dry ingredients. Mix on low until flour is fully incorporated, about 1 minute.

Form dough into a disc, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. On a floured surface, roll out cookie dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using large heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out 30 hearts, rerolling scraps of dough as needed. Use smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out small hearts from the center of 15 large hearts. Discard small hearts. Place large hearts on parchment paper-lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven until just beginning to brown, about 9 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Take all cookies with hearts cut from the center and using a sifter, dust them with powdered sugar. Take the whole-heart cookies and spread  1 tsp. cherry jam onto the surface, leaving a 1/2 border around the edge of the cookie without any jam. Stack the powdered sugar-covered cookies on top of the jam covered cookies, lightly pressing to make the cookies stick together.

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