Vegan Raspberry Linzer Bars

Directions

• Mix the flax egg together and set aside to thicken for five minutes. Place the blanched almonds in a food processor and pulse to start then process until the consistency of coarse bread crumbs. Not pulverized into a fine powder but not too chunky either. This might take up to a minute and keep checking while you process stopping every 25 seconds to check the texture. It can go from perfect to over processed quickly so make sure to check often while grinding. Measure out 1 1/2 cups (it’s like measuring flour not brown sugar, don’t press down the almonds too much into the measuring cups but fill them and sweep off the excess) and set aside. 
• In the bowl of the food processor or in a large bowl, cream the vegan butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about two minutes) then mix in the flax egg, almond extract and citrus zest. In another bowl, mix the flour, ground almonds, cornstarch, baking powder and spices together with a whisk then add to the creamed mixture and process or mix until completely combined with no streaks of flour left. Place the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap or use a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to overnight. You can also freeze it at this step to make at a later date, just place in the fridge from the freezer the day before you want to make the bars to thaw the dough gradually. 
• Preheat oven to 350°. Using a 9” square baking pan, spray the pan with vegetable spray then place a large piece of parchment into the pan overlapping two sides (it’s difficult to overlap all sides unless you have very large paper) which will make the bars easier to get out once baked. You can also use binder clips to clamp down the paper on the edges so it doesn’t get in the way or just trim the excess.
• Take the dough out of the fridge and eye it and divide into even-ish thirds. Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread with preserves almost to the edges all around. You can either crumble the remaining dough evenly over the preserves or for a prettier presentation you can roll small thin strips of dough (on a lightly floured surface if needed) and arrange them in a lattice pattern over the top. Start diagonally going corner to corner and evenly space strips in one direction then the other. The dough is quite easy to work with so roll between your fingers on a board or flat surface into somewhat uniform pieces. The great thing is this dough will press together so easily that you don’t have to have super long strips to start with to get them diagonally across the pan. If you make a mistake, just re-roll it. Once you get all the overlapping strips in place, make sure to just press the parts where they join lightly with you fingers together. You don’t need to do a true cross cross pattern (that requires lifting a piece to place one underneath and is complicated) as these will join together somewhat once baked and then be covered by powdered sugar.
• Bake at 350° until lightly browned all over, 35-40 minutes (be careful not to over-bake). Cool completely in pan on a wire rack then lift out using the parchment as handles and (if desired), sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Cut into small bars. These also freeze really well just don’t powder with sugar until serving.