These festive sandwich cookies are perfect for make-ahead holiday baking. Each bite combines tender walnut dough, a bright layer of apricot jam, and a glossy chocolate finish. They look elegant on any dessert platter and bring that nostalgic, homemade charm everyone loves during the holiday season.
Ingredients
For the Cookies
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup finely ground walnuts
⅔ cup powdered sugar
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 packet vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
For the Chocolate Glaze
9 oz semisweet baking chocolate, chopped
1½ tablespoons unsalted butter
For the Filling
Apricot jam, as needed
Lemon juice, to taste
Instructions
- Beat the softened butter with powdered sugar and vanilla sugar until creamy. Mix in the egg yolks until smooth.
- Add ground walnuts, cocoa powder, and flour. Knead just until a dough forms, then roll it out on a lightly floured surface.
- Cut small circles using a cookie cutter and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 340°F (170°C) for about 8 minutes, or until firm but still pale. Let cool completely. - Stir apricot jam with a bit of lemon juice until smooth.
- Pair the cookies by size and sandwich them together with apricot jam.
- Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler, stirring until shiny and smooth.
- Dip the top half of each cookie into the warm chocolate glaze and let them set on parchment paper.
Makes about 20 elegant holiday cookies.
