It’s time to gather up the children and begin making holiday cookies! This sugary delight is from Stonewall Kitchen and is quite a crowd pleaser. If you do the first part and have refrigerated the dough, your helpers can use the cookie cutters and arrange the wreaths for you. Then you can spread the apricot jam and place the masterpiece wreaths on your cookie circle. Enjoy!
Apricot Almond Wreaths
Ingredients
2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
15 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 large egg yolk
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup blanched almonds, ground finely
1 cup sliced almonds
1 egg white
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup Stonewall Kitchen Apricot jam
Directions
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift confectioner’s sugar into the bowl of a free stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add butter and mix on medium until uniform. Add yolk and mix. Place flour, cloves, cinnamon and ground almonds in a bowl and whisk until blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Wrap dough in parchment paper or wax paper and chill in the refrigerator 1 hour. Roll dough out between 2 floured sheets of parchment paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 3-inch rounds. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Using a 1 3/4-inch cutter cut the center out of half of the cookies forming the base for the “wreath”. Make an egg wash by whisking together the egg white and water. Lightly brush the egg wash on the “wreath” cookies. Place sliced almonds onto “wreath” and gently press down. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake cookies until golden brown. Remove to cooling rack and cool completely. Heat Apricot Jam in a small sauce pan. Strain out large apricot pieces. Allow jam to cool, but make sure it is still spreadable. Spread jam on cookie circles. Place “wreath” on top.