Passover cookies are always a wonderful and solemn treat! This cookie recipe uses wonderful almonds to bring out earthy and nutty flavors. Use your favorite fruit jam and make extra for your family or guests to take home. The Feast of Unleavened Bread can't take place without the matzo — a reminder that even though the Israelites didn't have time for the dough to rise before they fled, everything worked out in the end.

3/4 cup sliced blanched almonds, toasted and cooled

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup matzo cake meal

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

About 2 tablespoons fruit jam, such as raspberry, strawberry, or apricot

1. Pulse almonds, sugar, matzo cake meal, and salt in a food processor until finely ground. (Be careful not to grind to a paste.)

2. Transfer to a bowl and stir in butter, egg, and extracts until combined well.

3. Chill dough, covered, until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. While dough chills, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350*F.

5. Drop level tablespoons of dough 1 inch apart onto 2 ungreased baking sheets.

6. Roll dough into balls, then chill until slightly firm, about 10 minutes.

7. Make a 1/2-inch-wide (1/3-inch-deep) indentation in center of each ball using your thumb, index finger, or the rounded end of a wooden spoon.

8. Fill each indentation with 1/4 teaspoon jam and bake, 1 sheet at a time, until tops are pale golden and undersides are golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

9. Transfer cookies to a rack and cool completely.

Cooks’ note:

Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 3 days.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Recipe courtesy of Melissa Roberts. Recipe published in Gourmet Magazine April 2006. Photo courtesy of Romulo Yanes.

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