Cookies
10 ounces butter
3 ounces almond paste
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 cups cake flour
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
In a mixer cream butter, almond paste, sugar, and salt. Set aside. Mix together the egg yolk, milk, vanilla, and almond extract and set aside. Put cake flour and all-purpose flour in a bowl and set aside. Alternately add the two-flour mixture and the liquid ingredients in batches to the creamed-butter mixture. Combine. Refrigerate until firm. Pat or roll onto an ungreased cookie sheet with sides (not the flat kind), or you can use two 13- by 9-inch pans. Freeze overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove sheet from freezer and pierce the pastry with a fork (do not pierce all the way through–you will be able to pierce it because the dough will not be frozen solid). Bake for 15 to 16 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan.
Topping
1 cup apricot jam
3 tablespoons Cointreau
18 tablespoons butter
18 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons honey
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt jam and stir in Cointreau. Brush the jam mixture over the cooled uncut shortbread in the pan.
Melt butter in a saucepan. Add sugar, salt, and honey. Cook over low heat until sugar is melted. Add cream to butter-and-sugar mixture and bring to a boil. Stir until thickened. Remove from heat and add vanilla and almonds. Spread over jam. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are slightly caramelized and bubbly. To serve, cool and cut into squares. Makes 1 cookie sheet.
