ROSE, RASPBERRY & LYCHEE LINZER COOKIES

MAKES 20 / PREPARATION 45 MINUTES PLUS FREEZING TIME / COOKING 12 MINUTES Rose, raspberry and lychee is a popular flavour combination at Grace Patisserie. Here it is incorporated into a traditional Austrian cookie sandwich with fruit preserves and a dusting of icing sugar. Get creative with different shape cut-outs.

300g plain flour

70g ground almonds

1 teaspoon ground rose petals

a pinch sea salt

250g unsalted butter, softened

150g caster sugar

1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk

½ teaspoon rose extract

40g canned lychees

115g raspberry jam

icing sugar, to decorate In a small bowl, combine the flour, almonds, ground rose petals and salt and set aside.

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, egg yolk and rose extract and mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix only until incorporated.

Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper, to a thickness of 5mm. Freeze for 30 minutes or overnight. Heat the oven to 160℃.

Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut out 20 cookies and place onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper; these will be your base cookies.

Using the same cutter, cut out another 20 cookies to be the tops, then use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out shapes from the top cookies. Place onto another baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden then remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Chop the lychees into small pieces and mix through the raspberry jam. Spread a teaspoon of jam in the centre of the base cookies and sandwich together with the top cookies. Dust the tops with icing sugar.