Almond Raspberry Stars
Country Woman
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Meet the Cook: The first Christmas that I baked these, I ended up quickly making a second batch! The whole family enjoyed them.
Both my husband and I were raised on dairy farms, and we're raising our baby daughter in dairy country, too.
-Darlene Weaver, Lebanon, Pennsylvania
SERVINGS: 36
CATEGORY: Dessert
METHOD: Baked
TIME: Prep: 35 min. + chilling Bake: 10 min./batch + cooling
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1-3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped almonds
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg white, beaten
- 1/3 cup raspberry jam
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extracts. Stir in flour. Shape into a ball; cover and chill for 15 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness. With floured cookie cutters, cut dough into equal numbers of 2-1/2-in. and 1-1/2-in. stars. Combine the almonds, sugar and cinnamon. Brush small stars with egg white and immediately sprinkle with almond mixture. Leave large stars plain.
Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake small stars at 350° for 10 minutes and large stars for 12 minutes or just until the tips begin to brown. Cool on wire racks.
To assemble, spread enough jam over large star to cover the center. Top with a small star; press lightly (jam should show around edge of small star). Repeat. Let jam set before storing cookies in an airtight container. Yield: about 3 dozen.