1cup16 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
¾cupsgranulated sugar
½cupunpacked brown sugar
2large eggs
1 ½teaspoonsvanilla
⅔heaping cups dutch processed cocoa
powdered sugaroptional
For the Jam
2heaping cups berriesI used frozen antioxidant mixed berries from Target
2cupsred wine of your choiceplus 4 tablespoons divided (I used Red Velvet from Cupcake)
2cupssugar
zest of lemon
juice of half lemon
2teaspoonspowdered gelatin
Instructions
To Make the Cookies
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Set aside
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until light and creamy. Add the eggs and beat well. Beat in the vanilla and cocoa powder. until everything is creamy and a nice chocolate color. Scrape down sides as needed.
Slowly add the flour in batches until completely incorporated. Divide into two balls and turn each out on sheets of plastic wrap. flatten and tightly wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, or up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
Lightly coat your working surface with cocoa powder and roll out one sheet of dough until it is about ⅛ inch thick for a crunchier cookie, ¼ thick for a softer cookie. Use a linzer cutter to cut out your cookies. Reroll the scraps as necessary. Repeat with the second sheet of dough. Make sure you have an equal number of cookies with and without the decorative cutout centers. (I used the linzer cutter set from Wilton and love it).
Bake for 9 minutes and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
To Make the Berry Wine Jam
Mix all the ingredients except for the 4 tablespoons of wine and gelatin in a sauce pan. Heat on medium-high and beat the berries until they are completely pulverized. Bring to a boil for about 10 minutes. Bring down to a simmer for another 5 - 8 minutes. While the jam is boiling. Bloom the gelatin with the four tablespoons of wine by mixing both together and setting aside for about 5 - 10 minutes.
Once the jam is nice and thick, turn off the heat and mix in the bloomed gelatin. Make sure it mixes completely in the jam. Transfer the jam to mason jars.
Fill a pot with water and boil. Place the jar in the boiling water and let the water boil for about 10 minutes. Remove the jar wipe clean and allow to cool completely.
Assemble
Put about 1 teaspoon of jam on the half of the cookies that do not have the cut out centers. Top with the remaining cookies. Press gently down, but be careful to not let the jam spill out on the edges. If not mailing the cookies, top with a generous amount of powdered sugar if desired.