Amaretto Cream Strawberries (cookies)

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or 1 cup margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon amaretto
• 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup ground blanched almond
• green food coloring
• red sugar crystals
• 1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Recipe

• 1 beat together butter, confectioners' sugar, and amaretto liqueur until smooth.
• 2 stir in flour and almonds until well blended.
• 3 chill about 1 hour.
• 4 preheat oven to moderate (350 f).
• 5 roll dough, half at a time, on floured surface, to a 1/4 inch thickness.
• 6 cut out with a small floured spade or heart shaped cutter.
• 7 transfer with spatula to greased cookie sheets, spacing 1/2 inch apart.
• 8 bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned around edges.
• 9 transfer to wire racks; cool.
• 10 store in tightly covered container for up to 2 weeks.
• 11 prepare amaretto butter cream as follows:.
• 12 combine softened butter, amaretto, heavy cream and confectioners' sugar in a small bowl.
• 13 beat until well blended.
• 14 reserve half butter cream plain; tint remainder pale green with food coloring.
• 15 frost cookies with plain butter cream.
• 16 dip in red sugar crystals or sprinkle crystals heavily over frosting, pressing in slightly.
• 17 using a cake decorator with a small round tip, or a plastic bag made into a cone, fill with green tinted butter cream.
• 18 if using a plastic bag, cut the tip off the cone to make a small opening.
• 19 pipe a green stem and long points to resemble a strawberry hull on top of each cookie.
• 20 (or just frost the cookies with plain amaretto butter cream frosting and use sliced, fresh strawberries on top.).