| 1 | Make the cookie dough: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F. |
| 2 | Put three heavy, large ungreased baking sheets in the refrigerator |
| 3 | In a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade, process the almonds with 1 cup of the flour for 3o to 45 seconds, or until the mixture is ground to a fine powder. |
| 4 | Add the remaining 1 ?cups plus 2 tablespoons flour; granulated sugar confectioners" sugar and salt. |
| 5 | Process for 10 to 15 seconds, or until the mixture is thoroughly blended. |
| 6 | Evenly distribute the butter cubes in a circle around the chopping blade. |
| 7 | Add the egg, vanilla and lemon zest. |
| 8 | Process for 45 to 60 seconds, or until the mixture is creamy. |
| 9 | (make sure that the butter is completely blended into the batter) |
| 10 | Fill a pastry bag fitted with a closed star tip (such as ateco #6) with one-fourth of the cookie dough. |
| 11 | (slightly open the teeth on the end of the pastry tip so that any small nut particles do not get caught between the points as you pipe). |
| 12 | Remove a chilled baking sheet from the refrigerator. |
| 13 | Starting at the left-hand side of the midsection of the baking sheet, pipe 1 ?inch long "cats" paws" about 2 inches apart, across the center of the baking sheet. |
| 14 | (this will enable you to pipe straight and even lines across the baking sheet). |
| 15 | Continue piping until the bottom half of the baking sheet is covered with piped cookies. |
| 16 | Turn the baking sheet 180 degrees and continue piping cats" paws onto the other half of the baking sheet. |
| 17 | Refrigerate the baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the piped cookie dough is firm. |
| 18 | Pipe the rest of the cookie dough onto the remaining chilled baking sheets and refrigerate. |
| 19 | Bake the cookies one baking sheet at a time for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. |
| 20 | Turn the baking sheet halfway through baking for even browning. |
| 21 | Using a metal pancake spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. |
| 22 | assemble the cookies: |
| 23 | Melt the dark chocolate according to the melting instructions in the chocolate key or temper the chocolate following the |
| 24 | tempering instructions on page 7Scrape the chocolate mixture into a small heatproof bowl. |
| 25 | Place the bowl of chocolate over a smaller bowl of warm (86~f to 90~f) water. |
| 26 | Using a small metal cake spatula, coat the flat side of half of the cookies with a thin layer of melted or tempered chocolate. |
| 27 | Top each chocolate-coated cookie half with a second cookie. |
| 28 | Place the cookies on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes or until the chocolate is set. |
| 29 | 10. |
| 30 | Dip the pointed tips of the cookies halfway into the melted or tempered chocolate. |
| 31 | Place the cookies back onto the waxed paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate 5 to 10 minutes, or until the chocolate is set. |
| 32 | Store the cookies dipped in melted chocolate in a airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. |
| 33 | The cookies filled with tempered chocolate may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three weeks. |
