My Italian Heart

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What You Need:

  • 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 lemon, grated zest of
  • ¾ cup butter, cut up
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • ½ cup raspberry preserves
  • ¼ cup Alchermes or cherry liqueur
  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar

How to Make It:

  1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and lemon zest. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the egg and egg yolks, beating until just blended. Stir to form a smooth dough.
  2. Press the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter four cookie sheets.
  3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of ¼ inch. Use a 2-inch heart cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Cut out the centers from half the cookies with an apple corer. Gather the dough scraps, re-roll, and continue cutting out cookies until all the dough is used.
  4. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the prepared cookie sheets, placing them 1 inch apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 8-10 minutes, or until just golden at the edges. Transfer to racks and let cool completely.
  5. Heat the raspberry preserves in a small pan over low heat until liquid. Spread the whole cookies with the preserves. Place the liqueur in a small bowl and the confectioners' sugar in a separate bowl.
  6. Dip the holed cookies first in the liqueur, then in the confectioners' sugar. Place the holed cookies on top of the cookies spread with preserves.