Recipe Thursday: Raspberry-Almond Shortbread Cookies

I found this recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens Issue "100 Best Cookies." They are a lot of fun to make and taste AMAZING! 

Ingredients:
-1 cup butter, softened
-2/3 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup seedless red raspberry jam
-coarse sugar
-1 cup powdered sugar
-2 to 3 teaspoons water
-1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract



First: In a medium bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Beat until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour. Cover; chill 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.  (I chilled the dough for over an hour and it made it a little hard to work with, so I would keep it under an hour).

Second: Preheat oven to 350 F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Using your thumb, press an indentation into the center of each ball. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of the jam into each indentation. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute. Transfer to wire racks; cool. (I didn't sprinkle with coarse sugar because I didn't have any and they turned out plenty sweet).

Third: Meanwhile, for icing, in a medium bowl combine powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of water, and the 1 1/2 teaspoons of almond extract. Add enough of the remaining water to make drizzling consistency. Drizzle cookies with icing. Makes about 36 cookies. (I put the icing in a small ziplock bag and cut a small hole in the corner and drizzled icing that way. It still made a mess, but not as much as it could have!)

Just as a fun treat, I found this Free Printable and wanted to pass it along! Enjoy!