Almond Black Currant Cookies

These cookies are made with finely chopped almonds, filled with black currant jelly, and drizzled with white chocolate. They are scrumptious--and attractive.

Of course, you can use any jam or jelly for these cookies but we loved them with black currant. You can even use a prepared pastry filling, we loved the blueberry.

Ingredients
1 cup slivered blanched almonds
1 large egg
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup black currant jelly or pastry filling of your choice
2/3 cup white chocolate pieces or wafers (for drizzle)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

1. Finely chop the almonds using a food processor or a plunger-type nut chopper. Do not grind the nuts to butter but the nuts should be chopped into very small pieces.

2. In the bowl of your stand-type mixer and with the paddle attachment, beat the almonds, egg, butter, powdered sugar, salt, and extract together until well combined.

3. Add the flour and beat until a nice dough ball forms. Do not over beat.

4. On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough 1/4-inch thick. With a cookie cutter or donut cutter, cut the dough into 3-inch shapes. Cut a round hole in the center of half of the cutout cookies.

5. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown. Let them cool on wire racks.

6. Once cool, place about a teaspoon of jelly on each of the half of the cookies without a hole in the center. Top them with the half that have holes so that the jelly bonds the cookies together and a nice cap of jelly shows through in the center.

7. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle it over the cookies. Let the chocolate set before serving.

Recipe from: The Prepared Pantry