Japanese Shortbread

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup cold butter or 1 cup margarine, cut up
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup whole blanched almond
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted shelled pistachio, chopped
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 3 large eggs, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 -2 drop green food coloring (optional)
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate baking squares, melted

Recipe

• 1 the layers will be prepared and arranged in the following order, from bottom to top:.
• 2 shortbread crust.
• 3 jam layer.
• 4 pistachio layer.
• 5 chocolate top.
• 6 shortbread crust:.
• 7 heat oven to 350 degrees f. grease a 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan.
• 8 pulse flour and sugar in a food processor to combine. add cold cut up butter to work bowl and process until mixture is the texture of coarse meal.
• 9 add egg and pulse until mixture begins to hold together. note: the mixture should still be crumbly but evenly moistened by the egg.
• 10 sprinkle the moistened dough evenly in prepared pan. gently press the dough with floured fingertips evenly along bottom and sides of prepared pan.
• 11 bake 20 to 22 mninutes until crust is brown at edges and golden in the center. transfer to wire rack; cool while making filling.jam layer.
• 12 stir jam in a small bowl until smooth and spreadable; spread evenly over bottom of crust. (note: an offset spatula is a great tool for spreading.)pistachio layer.
• 13 process almonds, sugar, pistachios and flour in food processor, scraping sides of bowl until almonds are very finely ground. this mixture should look like dry bread crumbs. (note: grinding nuts in a food processor with flour and sugar prevents the nuts from becoming too moist and turning into nut butter.).
• 14 add butter and 1 egg. process until smooth. add remaining 2 eggs, almond and vanilla extracts and food coloring; process to blend. this mixture should be smooth and creamy in appearance.
• 15 carefully spoon filling over jam layer and gently spread to cover.
• 16 bake 30 to 35 minutes until filling is golden brown and firm when pressed lightly in center. cool completely on wire rack.chocolate top.
• 17 spread melted chocolate evenly over pistachio layer. refrigerate 10 minutes until chocolate is set.
• 18 score top of bars to guide knife as you cut 1 1/4 inch squares. makes 8 dozen.