Raspberry Almond Tassies

  Raspberries and almonds are among my favorite flavors and foods so this was a easy choice for me to bake.  The Better Homes and Garden’s Test Kitchen Favorites uses these two flavors in Raspberry Almond Tassies. With a butter crust, which rolled out beautifully after chilling, Raspberry All Fruit preserves and ground almonds make up the filling. They are quite easy to make, just a little time fussing with them. I was surprised how easily the dough handled. I did get 24 tassies instead of the 18 it stated. A nice bonus.

  Do use the amount of the jam called for in each tassie. I had a few that I got too much jam in and it boiled up on the sides.

Raspberry - Almond Tassies

1 cup all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold butter

3 to 4 tablespoons cold water

4 ½ teaspoons seedless raspberry jam

½ cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter, softened

⅔ cup finely ground almonds

¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 slightly beaten egg

  In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and salt. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. With a fork, stir in the cold water one tablespoon at a time until all flour is moistened and the ball stays together. Add a little more water if necessary. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for one hour.

  On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to ⅛ inch thickness. Cut circles with a 2 ½ inch round cookie cutter. Ease into the cups of a ungreased 1 ¾ inch muffin cups.

Spoon ¼ teaspoon jam into the bottom of each cup. No more than ¼ teaspoon.

  In mixer bowl, beat sugar and softened butter till creamy. Beat in the egg, add the almond flavoring and ground almonds. Stir until well mixed.

  Spoon 1 tablespoon of filling into each cup on top of raspberry jam. Bake in 400° oven for 23 minutes or until brown on top. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Dust with powdered sugar if desired.