Whisk together almond meal with Pamela's Sugar Cookie Mix. In a small bowl mix egg with almond extract, set aside. Cut butter into almond and Cookie Mix with stand mixer, pastry cutter, two knives, or fingers until butter is pea-sized. Add egg and extract, and mix until well blended. Chill for 30 minutes for ease in rolling and cutting.
Divide dough in half, roll out between two pieces of parchment or plastic wrap to about 1/8" thick. You will need two heart cookie cutters that are different sizes. Using the larger cookie cutter, cut out an even number of hearts from the dough. Taking half the cut out hearts, use the smaller cookie cutter to cut out the center of the cookies, then remove center heart (making a window). Repeat until all dough has been used.
Line cookie sheets with parchment. Place all the large whole hearts on parchment (these are the bottoms). Spread bottoms with jam to within ½" of the edge. Brush egg on exposed edge and place hearts with cutouts (the tops) over the bottoms and press lightly to seal.
You can add an almond edging by brushing the edges of the top hearts with egg and sprinkling the chopped almonds over the egg and pressing the nuts lightly into the cookie.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until just starting to brown (depending on how large the cookies). Allow cookies to cool on pan at least 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
Chef’s Note: The cutouts can be baked as individual cookies for a treat to eat immediately, or re-rolled to make more Linzer Hearts.
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