Make the Curd

Start by juicing a few blood oranges until you get about 1 cup of juice. Pour it into a pot and bring it to a light simmer uncovered. Keep an eye on it, making sure it’s not too hot. Pour it into a measuring cup to check how much it has reduced- it should be 1/2 cup when it’s done.

While the juice is simmering, pour the sugar and salt into a saucepan. Zest the oranges and a lemon into the pot of sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers or a spatula until it is moistened, slightly orange, and very fragrant. This brings the oils out of the zest, adding much more flavor to the curd.

Add the eggs to the sugar and whisk well to combine. Slowly pour the now-reduced juice into the pan while whisking to combine. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the saucepan, whisking to combine.

Place the pot on the stovetop at medium-low heat, stirring constantly. It will thicken quickly and without stirring, the curd will thicken unevenly and become chunky. Once temperature reaches 170 F, or when the mixture is thick and evenly coats the back of the spatula, remove from heat and pour into a sieve that is resting in a heat proof bowl. Whisk in the butter until it is melted.

Store lemon curd in the refrigerator while waiting for the next step. Cover the top of the curd with cling film to prevent it from developing a skin.

Make the Cookies

Start by creaming room temperature butter with sugar, blood orange zest, and salt. Add an egg and vanilla and mix to combine, making sure the mixture is emulsified. Scrape down the bowl and give it a mix one more time to make sure everything is mixed before adding the dry ingredients. Add the almond flour and all purpose flour all at once and mix on low to combine.

Drop the dough onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough and place another piece of parchment paper on top. Roll the dough to 1/6″ (4 mm). Refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours to chill the butter in the dough and help prevent sticking and spread.

If you don’t have a couple hours, put the dough in the freezer for fifteen minutes instead.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Cut as many cookies as possible with a small flower cookie cutter (2″ to 2 1/2″). Use an offset spatula to lift the cookies from the parchment paper and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing the cookies at least an inch apart.

Re-roll any scraps and cut more flowers. If the dough is too sticky to use after re-rolling, put it in the freezer for five minutes to firm up.

From half the cookies, cut circles in the center of the flower cookies.

Freeze the cut cookies for five minutes before baking to help prevent spreading.

Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny. If you want a golden brown, crispy cookie, bake for a minute or two longer. Cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes to allow them time to set before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spread a layer of blood orange curd on the cookies that have no centers. Be careful not to put too much curd near the edges of the cookie, or the curd can overflow. Gently sandwich a cookie with a center cut out on top of the curd cookie. Add a tiny bit more curd to the flower center if there is room to add more.

Sprinkle powdered sugar over the cookies, and if you’d like, a bit of blood orange zest.