| 1 | Preparation time: 1 ?hours cooking time: 10 to 12 minutes |
| 2 | Sift flour into a large mixing bowl and make an indentation or well in the center of the flour. |
| 3 | Add the sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, salt and lemon rind to the well. |
| 4 | Mix the ingredients in the well together with the flour. |
| 5 | Then cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or two sharp knives. |
| 6 | At this point the dough will resemble coarse crumbs. |
| 7 | Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead it with your hands until smooth and firm. |
| 8 | Divide dough in half and shape into two balls. |
| 9 | Wrap tightly in plastic. |
| 10 | Refrigerate until firm enough to roll out, about 1 hour. |
| 11 | Meanwhile, heat the apricot preserves over low heat, stirring constantly. |
| 12 | Stir in lemon juice and rum. |
| 13 | Let cool. |
| 14 | Heat oven to 325 degrees. |
| 15 | Place the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface or between two sheets of floured wax paper. |
| 16 | Roll out with a floured rolling pin to about ?inch thickness. |
| 17 | Cut out circles of dough about 2 inches in diameter. |
| 18 | Place half of the circles onto greased or non-stick cookie sheets. |
| 19 | Cut the other half of the circles again with a small shot glass or cookie cutter to form a ring shape. |
| 20 | (make an equal amount of rings to circles). |
| 21 | Place the rings onto buttered baking sheets. |
| 22 | Bake until light gold, 10 to 12 minutes. |
| 23 | Cool a little on the cookie sheets. |
| 24 | To assemble, brush the still-warm circles with the cooled apricot mixture. |
| 25 | Place one ring on top of each circle and press gently (they break easily) to secure. |
| 26 | Spoon a small dollop of the apricot mixture into the center of the cookies. |
| 27 | Sprinkle with confectioners" sugar. |
| 28 | Cool. |
| 29 | Store in a tightly closed tin. |
| 30 | infused with bits of lemon and pure vanilla and filled with apricot preserves and rum, the buttery rounds brought second-place honors to their baker, german-born anne kroemer of chicago. |
| 31 | Anne uses a wine glass and a smaller schnapps glass to cut out these cookies. |
| 32 | We"ve made them slightly smaller by using round cookie cutters; biscuit cutters work as well |
