Traditionally, in true Benedictine style, we offer our guests a time of fellowship after a concert in our church. It’s a wonderful time to greet people, listen to how the music moved them, and find out what brought them to our Community at this time.  This past weekend, prior to the first great Cape Cod blizzard of 2016, our choir Gloriae Dei Cantores sang a deeply spiritual and beautiful program at the Church of the Transfiguration – a concert made up of music recently sung on a concert tour in Italy. We ended with a reception, and the menu featured a combination of savory and sweet. Unbeknownst to us, a pastry chef from Falmouth was there, and he delighted in these cookies. He asked for the recipe and then told us that he had worked for Martha Stewart for ten years and that these were the best cookies he had ever had. What a compliment!

Since Lent is just a mere few weeks away, make these quickly before you decide to give up sugar!

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Raspberry and Apricot Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

SERVINGS 26cookies CHANGE SERVING SIZE cookies

COOK TIME 12-14minutes

PREP TIME 20minutes

READY IN 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups + 2 Tbsp (300g) flour all purpose*
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter cold and diced into 1 Tbsp pieces
• 2/3 cup (140g) sugar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup jam raspberry and/or apricot
• Glaze (optional)
• 1 cup (124g) powdered sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 4 tsp water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour and salt, set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend together butter and sugar until combined (it will take a minute or two since the butter is cold. If you don't have a paddle attachment that constantly scrapes bowl, then occasionally stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl). Mix in almond extract then add in flour blend until mixture comes together (it will take a bit of mixing since the butter is cold, so be patient, it will seem really dry at first), don’t over mix or your dough will be tough
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, or use a small ice cream scoop to form, and place 2-inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment. Make a small indentation with thumb or forefinger in each cookie (large enough to fit 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of jam). Fill each with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp jam. Chill in refrigerator 20 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes). Bake in preheated oven 12-14 minutes, or until slightly golden.
4. Cool several minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool (at this point you can add a little more jam if you'd like to, it just won't be set like the other is). Drizzle cookies with glaze when when cool. Store cookies in an airtight container.

Glaze

1. Whisk all glaze ingredients together in a small mixing bowl, adding enough water to reach desired consistency (thicker is better). Pour or spoon mixture into a sandwich size resealable bag, cut a small tip from one corner and drizzle over cookies. *To measure flour scoop with measuring cup and level with a butter knife. Don't whisk or sift first and don't spoon into the measuring cup. Recipe source: adapted from www.cookingclassy.com