Ensure that the butter is at room temperature. Cream the butter for about three minutes on medium speed in a stand mixer. Slowly add the sugar, and cream for five minutes, or until the mixture is nice and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mix again for about one minute.

While the butter and sugar are mixing, combine the flour and salt in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine, and set aside.

Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar and mix on the lowest speed until the dough just comes together. Lightly gather the dough into a ball and transfer it to the counter.

Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Shape each portion of dough into a log. I chose to stop at this point and wrapped each log in plastic wrap before chilling it overnight in the fridge. Note that you do NOT have to do this. You can continue working with the dough right away if you choose.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). If you chose to chill the dough, remove it from the fridge and allow it to warm up a little so that it can be shaped.

Line an upside-down cookie sheet with parchment paper. If you have a rimless cookie sheet, use that instead! Since I didn’t have a rimless cookie sheet, I had to improvise. A rimless sheet is preferred because it makes it easy to slide the parchment paper and cookies off the sheet.

Working on the parchment paper, shape each portion of dough into logs 14 inches (35.6 cm) long. Use your fingers to form troughs into each log that are 3/4 inch (2 cm) wide and 1/4 inch (0.6 cm) deep.

Put the jams into individual bowls, and add 1/2 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice to each. Add 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom to the apricot jam. Mix well to loosen the jam.

Use a spoon to spread the jam down the middle of each dough trough. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cookies are set and very lightly browned.

Cool the cookies for about 10 to15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then carefully slide the parchment paper onto a wire rack to the cookies can cool completely.

To prepare the glaze, combine the powdered sugar with the hot water in a small bowl, and whisk well until no lumps remain.

Drizzle the glaze in a zigzag pattern across each of the long cookie logs as shown. Allow the glaze to set for at least 45 minutes before diagonally slicing the cookies. You can slice the cookies as thinly as you want. I chose to slice them about 1 inch wide.

Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to one week.