To make the cookies, start by finely grind the almonds in a blender. Put this in a bowl, along with flour, butter, sugar and salt and knead well into a dough. The dough will be a little dry. Now add the milk, 1 tbsp at a time, till the dough is of a texture that makes it easy to roll out and cut the cookies. The dough should still be on the drier side.

Divide the dough into 2 portions working first with one and then the other. Shape each portion into a ball and then roll out, between two sheets of parchment or wax paper, thick plastic sheets or even aluminium foil, till 1/8th" thick.

Cut out into approximately 2" cookies using cookie cutters of your choice. You may also cut out the centers of half the cookies. The dough is a bit delicate, so transfer the cut-out cookies carefully, using a metal spatula, onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the other portion of dough and also with scraps, after re-rolling them.

Bake cookies at 180 for about 10 to 12 minutes till slightly puffed up and the sides start browning. Carefully take them off the baking sheets and cool completely on a rack. You can store them in an airtight tin and proceed with filling them later if you prefer.

To decorate and fill the cookies: Melt the chocolate and 1 tbsp of butter over hot water. Take it off the heat and stir in the milk and honey till smooth. Dip each cut-out cookie halfway in the chocolate allowing the excess chocolate to drip off. Place on a waxpaper/ foil lined tray and refrigerate till the chocolate sets (about 1/2 an hour)

Now spread a little bit of the strawberry or apricot preserves on the plain cookies and sandwich with the chocolate covered cut-out cookies. This recipe makes about 2 dozen plain cookies and 1 dozen sandwich cookies.

These cookies go to my good friend, the Happy Cook who is hosting a Strawberry Fest. They also go to Mansi who is hosting SHF : Fruit Nut