With cookie season upon us, what can we do but try them all?! And obviously, eat them all. Now, Linzer Cookies always were those cookies I saw on the internet, on TV and even in magazines around Christmas. Never tried them, though. Until this year, when I thought to give them a chance. Boy, oh boy! What a surprise. Tangy and sweet jam, nutty and buttery cookies with crushed almonds in the dough. What a treat!
You can find more Christmassy recipes here: Snowflake cookies, White chocolate coffee truffles, Gingerbread Sheet Cake, White chocolate Orange and Cranberry Fudge.
A few tips and tricks for the perfect Linzer Cookies:
-Make sure the butter has a high fat percentage and is at room temperature, so that it mixes properly with the sugar.
-The dough has to be chilled before rolling. Half an hour in the fridge should do.
-You can finely grind whole almonds or use almond flour if you find it handier. Here’s a link to the almonds I used. I like crushed almonds better than almond flour, because the cookies have a crunchier texture.
-The fun part about Linzer Cookies is that you can fill them with any jam you like. I used this sugar-free raspberry jam and loved how it turned out!
-Because the cookies have a lot of butter in the dough, after cutting the cookies it is essential to chill them for about 10 minutes more. You need the cookies to be cold when you put them in the oven, so the dough cooks before it starts to melt!
Linzer Cookies
Ingredients:
Cookie dough
- 2½ cups flour
- ⅔ cup almonds, finelly chopped or almond flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup butter (225 g)
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg large
Cookies
- 1 jar jam any kind you like
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar for dusting the tops
Instructions
Cookie dough
- Mix together dry ingredients and set aside.
- Whip the butter and sugar with a mixer until the sugar melts. (2-3 mins). Add the vanilla and the egg and mix again until smooth and fluffy.
- Add dry ingredients and mix until you have a dough-like consistency. The dough should be crumbly.
- Form a dough ball and cut in half, flatten the 2 halves with your hand and wrap them in cling film. Place them in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Take the dough out, allow it to soften slightly (5 minutes), place the dough in between two parchment paper sheets and roll into a 0.5 cm thick sheet.
- Cut an even number of shapes with you cookie cutters, half full, half with a whole in the middle – heart, star etc. Place the cokies in a tray lined with baking paper and back in the fridge for 10 minutes, so the cookies won't melt in the oven.
- Bake the cookies in the pre-heated oven at 175°, 8-10 minutes or until golden. The tops might need less than the bottoms. Allow the cookies to cool completely before taking them out of the tray.
Assembling the cookies
- Dust the tops with powdered sugar. Spread jam on the bottoms, then stick them together!
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