Christmas in July is a bit of a tradition in our home. It’s a great opportunity to experience how the other half lives, enjoying all our favorite holiday foods in the opposite season. Here in Australia, Christmas falls during the summer season, so we often turn our traditional turkey roasts with stuffing into seafood platters accompanied by cold drinks. I thought we would start this year off simply, with this baked beauty that’s perfect for your holiday weekend get-together. Let’s make pastry chef Lothar Neumaier’s Florentine Cookies from Biergarten Restaurant in the Germany pavilion at EPCOT.
Ingredients
- 1 16.5-ounce package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
- 1 cup raspberry jam
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit inside a regular sheet pan.
- Place the parchment paper rectangle on the counter, and place cookie dough on the parchment paper.
- Roll out cookie dough to cover most of the rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border of paper. The dough should be approximately 1/8-inch thick.
- Carefully transfer dough on parchment to the sheet pan.
- Spoon jam onto dough, and use the back of a spoon to spread it evenly over dough.
- Evenly sprinkle with almonds and sugar.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.
- Transfer sheet pan to a wire rack to cool completely, at least 1 hour.
- When cool, slide baked dough off of sheet pan.
- Cut into rectangles using a pizza cutter or a knife.
- Store cookies in an airtight container, separating layers with pieces of parchment paper to prevent them from sticking together.
Chef’s Note
If you don’t like raspberry jam, you can use your favorite flavor.Yield:
Makes 32 2-by-3-inch cookies
