INGREDIENTS
1 C hazelnuts, toasted & husked*
1 T plus 2/3 cup sugar
14 T (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lg egg
1 lg egg yolk
1 t grated lemon peel
½ t lemon extract
½ t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
2 2/3 C all purpose flour
10 oz B&R Farms Dried Apricot Preserves
Powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
Combine hazelnuts and 1 T sugar in processor; grind nuts finely. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 2/3 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in hazelnut mixture, then egg, egg yolk, lemon peel, lemon extract, salt and cinnamon. Beat in flour. Gather dough into bowl. Divide into 4 pieces. Flatten each into disk and wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
Preheat oven to 325F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1 dough piece between sheets of waxed paper or parchment to scant 1/4 inch thickness, sprinkling dough with flour to prevent sticking and occasionally peeling off top paper to remove wrinkles. Peel off top sheet. Using 2” diameter fluted cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer to prepared sheets, spacing ½ inch apart. Gather dough scraps and reroll, cutting out more cookies and placing on sheets. Using 1” diameter fluted cutter, cut out centers from half of cookies, making rings. Gather centers as scraps. Bake cookies 5 minutes. Reverse sheets; bake cookies until light golden, about 6 minutes longer. Cool cookies on sheets 2 min. Transfer to racks; cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
Arrange whole cookie rounds on work surface. Drop generous ½ t preserves in center of each cookie. Arrange cookie rings on work surface. Sift powder sugar over & place 1 ring cookie on each whole round, forming sandwich with preserves showing through the “window” cut out center. Makes about 4 dozen
* To toast and husk hazelnuts, scatter nuts on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast at 350F until the skin becomes dark, 12-15 minutes. To test for doneness, cut one nut open to ensure it is golden brown in the center. Pour nuts onto kitchen towel; wrapping towel tightly around nuts and briskly rub the hazelnuts together to remove the skins.