For the crust

• Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, mix the melted butter, sugar, vanilla and salt together until well combined. Add the flour and mix until it creates a dough.
• Press the dough into the bottom of your 8 inch baking pan. It will take a minute to spread it out evenly and fill the bottom of the pan. I used my hands, then switched to a rubber spatula once the bottom of the pan was covered.
• Bake the crust in your oven for 15 minutes at 300 degrees. Once it is done, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees to preheat.

For the filling

• While the crust is still hot, pour the raspberry preserves over the top and spread evenly.
• Dot your fresh raspberries around the mixture.

For the streusel topping

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour until well combined.
• Cut your cold butter into small cubes and cut them into the mixture with forks or your hands (I used my hands). You want the mixture to look a little bit lumpy, but evenly mixed with the butter.
• Evenly spread the streusel topping over the top of the raspberry preserves and raspberries.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it starts to turn golden brown and bubbly.
• Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes. Then transfer to the refrigerator to chill for 3-4 hours. I chilled mine overnight.
• When you are ready to serve, remove from the pan by pulling up with the parchment paper. Cut into squares as desired. I cut mine into 12 squares, but you could do 16 squares for smaller pieces.

For the icing

• In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla and salt until smooth and creamy. I used 2 tablespoons of the milk to start, then added more to get my desired consistency.
• Serve cold or room temp (I prefer cold)!

• Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Whisk together the flour, corn starch and salt in a medium bowl until well mixed. Set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.
• On low speed, add in the eggs one at a time until mixed.
• Add in the almond extract.
• On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture into the bowl a little bit at a time until the dough starts to pull away from the edges of the bowl. You may not need all of the flour mixture. I had about a 1/2 cup leftover, but this will vary. It should form a nice, dry dough that doesn't stick too much to the edges, but is still workable.
• Take the dough out of the bowl and onto a surface to roll out. I used wax paper with flour sprinkled on it.
• Roll the dough out until smooth and a consistent thickness around 1/4 inch.
• Cut your shapes and place the pieces on your baking sheets. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Bake cookies once sheet at a time for 8-11 minutes. 9 minutes was perfect for me. The edges should barely start to brown before pulling them out.
• Move cookies to a cooling rack after 3-5 minutes to cool.
• Melt your chocolate in the microwave on 50% power in increments of 30 seconds.
• Dip each cookie in the melted chocolate and transfer to parchment or wax paper. I used a spoon to get a straight line down the cookies.
• Sprinkle with the crushed almonds immediately and let them set.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Ina medium mixing bowl hand whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until well blended. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well mixed, light and fluffy.
• Mix in eggs one at a time then blend in vanilla extract and peppermint extract.
• With mixer set on low speed, add in flour mixture a little bit at a time. Mix until just combined, careful not to overmix.
• Add in the semi-sweet chocolate chips and gently mix by hand with a spatula.
• Chill dough for 1-24 hours before use. If you are short on time you can pop it into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes while you crush the peppermint for later.
• Once chilled, scoop the dough out with a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon (about 26 grams each) and shape into balls.
• Put cookies on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Put the first cookie sheet in the oven right away so the dough stays cool from chilling. Put the rest of the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator until they are ready to go in the oven.
• Bake one sheet at a time for about 8 minutes. My cookies appeared slightly under baked, but they will set and be perfect.
• Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Once cookies are fully cooled, melt white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring between intervals until melted and smooth. The white chocolate will burn if you microwave at more than 50% power, or for too long.
• Dip half of each cookie in white chocolate until both sides have white chocolate about halfway up the cookie. Transfer to parchment paper and sprinkle with the crushed peppermint while the chocolate is still set.
• Chill to let chocolate set, then transfer to an airtight container to store.