Recipe: Linzer Cookies

Mandatory Credit: NGI197

When I was in Germany for three years, going to the bakeries was like going to a coffee shop here in the States.  There is a bakery on every corner, and I am not joking.  If one bakery was packed you could literally go down the street and there was another option.

More from Recipes

• Rick Martinez recommends this creative take on a favorite holiday treat
• Pie cookie recipes skip the worry about the dreaded soggy bottom
• Bake a new holiday tradition with the scrumptious Disney Pecan Pie recipe
• Creative stuffing recipes get a twist from favorite ingredients
• Twisted Candy Cane Dole Whip is the ultimate holiday treat

Getting the fresh bread and baked goods on a daily basis was something that all Germans did, because their breads didn’t have preservatives in them, they didn’t last more than a day or two, so you only bought what you needed for that day.  The pastries and cookies were the real treats at the bakeries.

My favorite cookie to get while in Germany was the Linzer cookie.

A Linzer cookie is a cookie that has both a top and a bottom and has a fruit jam in the middle.

Here is a recipe that I have used in the past that has been the closest to the German style Linzer cookie.  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups hazelnuts, toasted

1 cup butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons orange or lemon zest

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cup four

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raspberry jam, seedless

powdered sugar

Directions:

In a food processor, finely grind the toasted hazelnuts using short pulses. Set aside.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, cream the butter until fluffy and pale yellow.  Add the granulated sugar and continue beating until combined.  Add the egg yolk, orange zest, vanilla, and almond extract and beat on low speed until blended.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, and slat together into another bowl.  Add the ground hazelnuts and stir to blend.  Add to the butter mixture and mix on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon until blended.  The dough should be soft.  Turn the dough out of the bowl, divide into 4 equal portions, and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.  Remove 1 portion of the dough at a time from the refrigerator, place between 2 sheets of waxed paper, and roll out 1/4 inch think.  Using a cookie cutter about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out the cookies.  Cut a hole in the center of half of the cookies with a 1 1/4 inch cutter.  Repeat to roll out all the dough, then reroll the dough scraps as needed to make 24 cutouts in all, cutting holes in half of them. If the dough becomes sticky, wrap it and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes before rolling out.

Using a thin spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to the prepared pans.  Bake until firm to the tough, about 12 minutes.  Transfer the pans to wire racks.  Loosen the cookies from the pans with the spatula, but let remain in place until thoroughly cooled.  To assemble, spread the solid cookies with a thin layer  (about 1 teaspoon) of raspberry jam to within about 1/4 inch of the edges.  Dust the cutout cookies generously with confectioners’ sugar.  Top the solid cookies with the cutout cookies.

Yield 24 cookies.