• If you're making the whole almond version, preheat the oven to 180C/356F. Toast the almonds for 10-12 minutes (watch them carefully) until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cooled, blitz to a fine meal in a food processor.

The night before (or at least 3-4 hours ahead of time):

• Place the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle mixer attached. Mix on a low-medium speed until the butter is soft and malleable. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the butter, this could take 15 seconds or a couple of minutes.
• Once the butter is soft, add the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and turn the mixer to a medium high speed (I use speed 6 on my Kitchenaid) for around 3-15 minutes. It should be light in colour and texture, fluffy and creamy and uniform in colour. If you use a spatula to scrape the bowl, you should meet no resistance from the butter at the bottom.
• While you’re waiting for the butter to cream, whisk together the almond meal and flours in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
• Once the butter mixture is light and fluffy, add the flavourings and the egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again, and mix on a low speed for 2 or so minutes, until the egg has been incorporated into the butter mixture. It is ready when it looks like buttercream in texture.
• Add the flour mixture and mix just to combine.
• Use a spatula to gather all the mixture and place it in the centre of a beeswax wrap or plastic wrap. Make sure you have enough wrap to totally enclose the dough.
• Wrap it up nicely and pat it into a rectangle. Place it in the fridge overnight or until completely firm. I’m a strong advocate for doing it the night before.The butter will firm up overnight.

To bake the linzer cookies:

• The next day, lay a large piece of baking paper on a bench and flour it generously with tapioca flour.
• Line 2-3 baking trays with baking paper and preheat the oven to 170C/338F.
• Cut 1/2 the dough and place the remainder back in the fridge in the wrap. This may not be as important in cool climate kitchens, but it is very important for a summer bake.
• Use a (floured) rolling pin to press the block down into an even surface before you begin rolling. If you’re baking in summer, work quickly. I find it helpful to do big strokes – roll fully in one direction and then the other. Use tapioca flour and the fridge as often as necessary to avoid sticky, melted dough. If the dough cracks in the middle as you roll (it will) leave it. Just cut out cookies without cracks and then you can re-roll the scraps later.
• Once you’re happy with the thinness, use your circular cutter to cut as many cookies as you can some that piece of dough. If the dough has softened and it’s hard to pick the cookies up, place the whole thing on a tray in the fridge for 10 minutes. Work on the next piece of dough while it cools.
• Irrespective of how many cookies you have on a tray, keep half as full cookies and cut a centre circle in the other half. This ensures you have an equal amount of top and bottom cookies.
• Bake each tray for 10 minutes and then assess. They cook depending on their thickness – thin cookies take a lot less time than thick ones. Mine generally take about 12 minutes. They should look cooked through and lightly golden.
• Repeat this process of rolling, refrigerating and baking until you have used up all the dough and baked all the cookies. Allow them to cool (this shouldn’t take long).

To assemble the cookies:

• Divide the cookies into top and bottom cookies.
• Sprinkle icing sugar liberally on the cookies with holes in the top. Dollop the bottom cookies with a teaspoon or so of jam in the centre. Gently sandwich a top and bottom cookie together and serve.