Friday, July 13, 2012

Chocolate Topped Linzer Cookies for the Afternoon Tea.

The Chocolate Topped Linzer Cookies are the perfect treat for any small tea party or ladies lunch-in. They are the kind of cookies that begin to melt in your mouth from the moment you first bit them. I made these cookies for the first time a couple days ago, and they turned out great. I got many compliments on them.
The only tip for this recipe I can give you is to be careful when melting the chocolate. You must watch it very carefully or it can over cook and become hard like fudge or burnt. If that happens you will have to start over. With the chocolate you want a nice smooth consistency.

Have fun cooking, and remember to always listen to some of your favorite music while you do.




    
Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups  flour
1/8 tsp (each)  ground cinnamon, ground cloves and ground nutmeg
1 cup  butter, softened
2 cups  plus 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar, 2 egg yolks
1 cup  almond meal or finely ground almonds  
3\4 cups seedless raspberry jam
2 squares semisweet chocolate
1\2 package cream cheese, softened. (4oz)


Directions:
Mix flour and spices. Beat butter and 1 cup powdered sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add egg yolks; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Add nuts; mix well. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into ball; flatten slightly. Wrap individually in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350ºF. Roll out 1 dough piece on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 24 circles with 2-1/2 inch round cutter, rerolling dough scraps as necessary. Transfer to baking sheets. Use 1-inch round cutter to cut out centers from 12 circles. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake 10 to 12 min. or until edges are golden brown. Cool on baking sheets 3 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
Spread jam over whole cookies. Use fine-mesh strainer to sprinkle 1 Tbsp. sugar over remaining cookies; place over jam-topped cookies.
Melt chocolate as directed on package. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Beat in chocolate, then remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Spoon heaping teaspoon of chocolate mixture onto center of each cookie. Let stand 10 min. or until chocolate is firm.