Difficulty: Moderate
Cook time: 10 minutes
Preparation time: 60 minutes
 

• 1. Place the almonds, cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in the work bowl of a food processor and process until the nuts are finely ground. Set aside.
• 2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and mix until combined. Beat in ground almond mixture. Mix in flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Divide dough in half and shape into disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least two hours.
• 3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• 4. Remove one disk of dough from refrigerator and roll dough out to 1/8″ thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. (The high butter content of this dough makes it somewhat difficult to roll out; rolling it between plastic eliminates the need for additional flour and prevents the dough from sticking.) Using a round fluted cookie cutter (1″ - 2″ diameter), cut as many cookies as possible. Roll out remaining dough and cut an equal number of round cookies, but in these, cut a small hole, or use a small shaped cookie cutter to cut out a shape. Re-roll scraps and repeat. Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• 5. Bake cookies until pale golden, 8-10 minutes. The edges of the cookies should be just barely beginning to brown. Cool on rack for 20 minutes.
• 6. Dust cutout cookies with confectioners’ sugar. Spread uncut cookies with about 1 teaspoon of preserves; place a cutout cookie on top to form a sandwich. Spoon an extra dab of preserves in the hole of each cutout, if desired.