Blackberry Swirl Almond Cookies

A lovely baking recipe for cinnamon rolls with blackberries. Dress up these almond-flavored sugar cookies with a simple cooked blackberry filling spiced with cinnamon and cloves. Almond blackberry cookies taste as good as they look and are easy to package in a jar or cellophane bag tied with a ribbon for a sweet gift.

Directions

TEAR a sheet of parchment paper about 35cm long. Set aside.
PLACE blackberries, 3 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and water into a medium saucepan.
HEAT blackberry mixture over medium-high heat just until it begins to boil WHILE STIRRING occasionally.
REDUCE HEAT to medium-low.
SIMMER blackberry mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes WHILE STIRRING and mashing berries occasionally with a potato masher. You should have about 100g blackberry filling.
SET ASIDE blackberry filling to cool completely.
BEAT butter and remaining 150g sugar with an electric mixer until very light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
ADD egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract.
BEAT butter mixture again until ingredients are incorporated.
SET ASIDE butter mixture.
WHISK TOGETHER flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
ADD flour mixture to butter mixture gradually WHILE BEATING on low speed until ingredients are incorporated. Do not over mix.
POUR OUT dough onto parchment paper.
ROLL OUT dough to a rectangle about 30x20cm and 0,5cm thick.
SPREAD blackberry filling over dough leaving 5cm of boarder around edges.
ROLL UP dough into a tight log starting from the long side using parchment paper to help lift and roll.
TIGHTLY WRAP dough log in plastic wrap.
REFRIGERATE dough log at least 4 hours.
PREHEAT oven to 175ºC.
LINE 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
SLICE dough log into cookies about 0,5cm thick.
ARRANGE 12 cookies on each baking sheet leaving one inch between cookies.
BAKE 13 to 15 minutes or until cookies just begin to brown.
REMOVE cookies from oven and immediately SPRINKLE with granulated sugar or sanding sugar (if using).
COOL cookies on baking sheets for 2 minutes.
TRANSFER COOKIES to wire racks to cool completely.