PREP: Preheat your over to 350°, cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, blend your almonds so they are ground and set aside, and Put your jelly into a piping bag or a ziplock bag snipped at the corner.
Mix together flour, sugar + salt
Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a hand mixer, stand mixer, or with a pastry cutter.
Next add in the ground almonds and vanilla and mix until you form a ball of dough. The dough will be on the crumbly side. If you find that the dough it too crumbly to pack together, add 1-2 Tbsp of water.
Lightly flour your surface and roll the dough out to about 1/4-1/8 thickness and cut with a small cookie cutter. (The smaller the better. I suggest using a 1.5-2" cookie cutter.)
Bake an EVEN number of cookies at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Tip: You will want to cook in small batches - about 10 to 12 cookies as at time. I will explain why below.)
Flip half of the cookies over and start piping on the jelly. Leave a little space around the edges because the jelly will spread as you push the cookies together. (See pictures below)
Set another hot cookie on top and gently press them together. Assemble all cookies before rolling them in sugar. Your 10-12 cookies will end up making 5-6 complete cookies.
Next roll your assembled cookies in your bowl of sugar and set on a rack to cool.
Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator, but allow them to reach room temperature before serving.
NOTES: 1. The reason why you want to work fast in small batches is because the jelly will cook a little and hold the cookies together. The sugar also sticks better to hot cookies. 2. The number of cookies you will get depends on the size cookie cutter you use and how thin you roll your dough, but I typically get around 24-26 assembled cookies from one batch. 3. Use a cookie cutter without something that sticks out, like the trunk of a Christmas tree. The hearts were much easier because they didn't have anything that could break off like the trunks of the trees.
