Czechoslovakian Torte Cookies

For this recipe, I owe many thanks to my sister Anna. Once, when I was visiting Anna in NY, she prepared this recipe, and I loved it! She made it with her homemade apricot jam. and it was delicious! She told me that the recipe is in the book which she had given me, called: “I MUST Have This Recipe”. This cookbook was written and put out by the staff at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where Anna worked for many years.

When I came home, I tried it, and since then it has become a favorite.
I usually make this recipe with raspberry jam – but it can certainly be made as Anna made it so deliciously, with apricot jam – or any other jam.

Thanks, Anna!

Ingredients:

• 227 grams (1/2 pound) butter cut into little cubes
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• raspberry jam (or any jam you prefer).

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F.
2. Grease and flour pyrex (23 cm x 33 cm – or 9 inches by 13 inches)
3. In food processor cream butter and sugar.
4. Add egg yolks.
5. Add flour, chopped nuts and vanilla extract.
6. Blend, and gather into ball of dough.
7. Divide dough into two parts.
8. Pat one half of dough into the bottom of greased and floured pan.
9. Put aside (can refrigerate for a few minutes – this will make it easier to spread the jam).
10. Spread jam evenly over dough.
11. Great the rest of the dough evenly over the jam.
12. Bake in 180 C or 350 F oven until it is a deep golden brown (do not allow to get too dark).
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
14. When cool, cut into diamond shapes, or squares.
15. If not serving immediately, put in hermetically closed box. It keeps well for several days.

If you prefer to prepare this in a mixer rather than food processor, you will have to leave the butter out to soften it before preparing.