Linzer Cookies

Linzer Cookies are version of famous Austrian “Linzertorte”. Linzer Cookies are sandwiched together with a layer of jam. Usually they have cut out in the center and dusted with icing sugar on the top. These cookies can prepared in any shape but the traditional one is usually round.

Time of Preparation : 20 minutes
Resting time : 1 hour
Baking time : 12 minutes per batch
Yield : 12 to 14 cookies

Ingredients:

• Almonds / Hazelnuts – 1 cup
• Light Brown Sugar – 1/4 cup
• Butter – 1 cup (room temperature)
• White Sugar – 1/2 cup
• Egg – 1 (room temperature)
• Pure Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
• All Purpose Flour – 2 cups
• Salt – a large pinch
• Ground Cinnamon – 1 tsp

Topping:

• Confectioners (Powdered Sugar) – 1/4 cup
• Jam – 3/4 cup

Method of Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and roast the almonds for 12 minutes or until the aroma comes.
2. Powder them along with brown sugar and keep it aside.
3. Turn off the oven as it will take more time for the dough preparation.
4. Beat the butter using a hand mixer until soft.
5. Add the white sugar and beat until they are soft and fluffy.
6. Now add the egg and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes.
7. Now add the almond powder and beat well.
8. Then mix the all purpose flour, salt and ground cinnamon and add the mixture little by little and beat it at low speed.
9. Beat until they all combine properly.
10. Divide the dough to two halves. Take a parchment paper and keep one half and cover it another parchment paper and roll them like how we roll for tortilla / chapati. It should be of 1/4 inch thick.
11. Make it really smooth and repeat the process for the other half.
12. Refrigerate them for 1 hour and after that cut them to desired shape using cookie cutter.
13. Use a smaller cookie cutter to cut the center. We can use any shape we want.
14. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake the cookie for 12 minutes or until the edges become light brown.
15. Repeat the process for the full dough and reroll the leftover dough again and repeat this process until it is done.
16. Cool the cookies for 10 minutes and keep all the center cut cookies and sprinkle the powdered sugar using a strainer (as shown in the pic).
17. Take the other part of the cookie and spread the jam. Keep the center cut cookies on the top.
18. Fill more jam in the center if needed.
19. Refrigerate them in an airtight container.

Note:

• We can use either hazelnuts or almonds. Here I have used natural almonds. But we can use blanched almonds too.
• We can use cookie cutter of any shape we want.
• The dough should be stiff so that the cookies will not lose their shape. So refrigerate them even after cutting for 10 minutes if needed.
• I have used Rasberry jam and mixed fruit jam for filling. We use any jam for filling.