Our Resident Foodie

My daughter is our resident foodie. Sara loves watching cooking shows. She knows everything about Iron Chef, Cupcake Wars, Top Chef, and every Diner, Drive-Inn and Dive across America. She subscribes to Food Network magazine, which she reads cover-to-cover. She is one of the few people I know that actually enjoys grocery shopping. One of her favorite places to shop is kitchen stores. So I shouldn't be surprised when she came home last week with a Linzer Cookie Cutter. Linzer cookies are European inspired jam-filled cookies. They are quite time consuming, but full of delicious buttery goodness. Perhaps your resident foodie would like to try this recipe.

Linzer Sandwich Cookies

2 cups flour
2/3 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Confectioners sugar
In small bowl combine flour, almonds, and cinnamon. Set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix only until incorporated. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Press into small discs, about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On floured surface roll out one disc of dough 1/8 inch thick. Keep remaining dough chilled. Cut half the dough using the center cut-out (top cookie) and cut the remaining half with out the center cut-out. This will be the bottom cookie. Bake on parchment paper-lined baking sheets 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely. Spread bottom cookie with about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon jam. Cover with top cookie which has been dusted with confectioners sugar.
(This recipe was printed on the Wilton Linzer Cookie Cutter package.)

Sara used our KitchenAid mixer to make these cookies. What? You don't have a KitchenAid mixer? You could! Check out Real Dairy Holidays Contest sponsored by Midwest Dairy to see how you could win one.