sweet miscellany

Just dropping in to take a short break from all of the holiday baking and gift making so that I can share the last cookie month recipe. I think these are the prettiest and most festive of all of the cookies because they unintentionally came out looking like little wreaths. Making these yesterday definitely put me in the holiday mood, and I have a feeling they will do the same for you.

Though these require a lot of different steps from start to finish, they are rather easy to make. And, they allow a certain amount of wiggle room in terms of what shapes you make them, what nut meal you want to use (if any), and what type of jam to sandwich in the middle. I chose a naturally sweetened raspberry jam because it provides a nice tart contrast to the sweet cookies, but any jam will work. Just about everyone can enjoy these beauties because they are vegan, gluten free, soy free, and nut free if you follow the suggestions for leaving out the nut meal.

If you don’t feel like going to the trouble of assembling these cookies, this dough makes great sugar cookie cut-outs. Simply cut out whatever shapes you want, decorate them with sugar or sprinkles, then bake for the same amount of time (removing them when the edges are golden). You can also ice or glaze them with whatever your heart desires.

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