Christmas Tree Almond Cookies with Spiced Mixed Fruit Jam

By Sammy and Bella

Christmas Tree Almond Cookies with Spiced Mixed Fruit Jam | MiNDFOOD

Christmas Tree Almond Cookies with Spiced Mixed Fruit Jam. This is a really great festive treat, perfect to devour with a cup of tea or share with your family and friends as an edible gift. 

Linzer is a traditional Austrian/German shortbread cookie filled with jam, and something we grew up making with our mum at home. This is a really great festive version, perfect to devour with a cup of tea or share with your family and friends as an edible gift.

For an added touch, we made our very own homemade jam with Sunbeam mixed fruit and plenty of Christmas spices to create a flavour similar to a mince pie. The cookies themselves are made with Sunbeam macadamia meal, so they are definitely more luxurious than the average shortbread.

You’ll need a Christmas tree shaped cookie cutter, or cut out a shape from paper and use it as a stencil to cut around with a sharp pointed knife. A tip – if you make extra jam, you can store it in a nice jar and give it out as a gift!

For the jam:
250g Sunbeam Mixed Fruit
450ml boiling hot water
100ml brandy
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
pinch ground allspice
pinch ground cloves
pinch powdered ginger
pinch powdered cardamom
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
1 1/4 cups brown sugar

For the cookie dough:
250g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup Sunbeam Almond Meal
red and green food colouring
1 egg, lightly beaten

For the jam, place all ingredients (except lemon zest/juice and sugar) in a large bowl, cover and let soak overnight. The next day, place the whole lot into a pot, along with lemon juice + zest and sugar and blend with a stick blender until smooth. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 40 minutes. Check if the jam is ready by placing a small amount on a frozen plate to see if it’s setting. If not, return to the boil for another 10 minutes and try again.

For the shortbread, place butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add flour and Sunbeam almond meal, and stir until combined. Separate the dough into 2 halves. Add red and green food colouring and knead gently on a floured surface until the mix is smooth and the colour is evenly distributed. Wrap the two dough balls in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 160C.

Place dough between two sheets of non-stick baking paper and roll out to 4mm thick. Cut the dough into even sized rectangles, big enough so that you have a 1cm edge around your chosen cookie cutter size (I like to use a ruler for this job). Use the cookie cutter to cut trees out of half the rectangles. To assemble, place some jam on a rectangle base, up to 0.5cm from the edge, and spread with the back of a spoon.

Use a pastry brush to brush the exposed edge with beaten egg, then place a rectangle with tree cut out on top. Repeat for all rectangles. Place filled rectangles on a baking paper lined cookie sheet, and the trees on a separate sheet. Bake the rectangles for 20 minutes, and the trees for 15 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked through. Set aside to cool before eating.

sunbeamfoods.com.au

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