PRALINÉ CHOCOLATE SANDWICH COOKIES

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350° F with rack at center of oven. Line baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, almond extract and salt.
• Stop mixer and scrape down paddle and sides of bowl. Blend in egg. Mix in almond meal. With mixer set at lowest speed, add flour in ½ cup increments.
• Roll out dough, sandwiched between two sheets of wax paper. Smooth out the wax paper as it wrinkles: Remove top piece of paper, and then smooth and replace. Flip over the ‘dough sandwich’ and continue to roll dough to 1/4” thickness. Optional: if your kitchen is warm, you could chill rolled out dough in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
• Remove top piece of wax paper one last time, replace, and flip. Remove top piece of paper and set aside. Cut out cookies, making a second, smaller cutout ‘window’ on half of the cookies. These will serve as the top part of the sandwich. Be sure to cut out an even number of tops and bottoms. If using an asymmetrical cutter, flip cutter for half of cookies. Place 1/2” apart on baking sheet.
• Have a small bowl handy to collect the scraps as you cut out the cookies. Re-roll the scraps until all dough is used up. Bake for 8-10 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking, until cookie edges are a light golden brown. Take care not to over bake. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack. Let cool completely.