Linzer Cookies Recipe

So my plan was to have this recipe up before Valentine’s Day. Cough. But I kept trying and tweaking recipes and just couldn’t get a Linzer cookie that I really loved.

I finally came up with this recipe and absolutely love it.

Traditionally Linzer cookies are made with almond flour or ground almond. I tried both ways and for some reason the dough was just too fussy to seem practical. I only like to publish recipes on this blog that anyone can make- not things that are overly complicated. So technically these cookies are probably closer to a shortbread with a hint of almond and bright lemon. I love these cookies and I hope you do too! Best of all they are pretty simple to make except there are a few key notes I mention at the bottom that will help you get a perfect, delicious cookie.

These seem complicated but trust me they really are simple and they are absolutely delicious in the end so the effort is well worth it.

Linzer Cookies Recipe

Author: My Frugal Adventures

Serves: 24

Ingredients

1½ cups of butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)
zest from 1 medium sized lemon
3½ cups flour, sifted
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup raspberry jam
confectioners sugar for dusting

Instructions

Start by adding the butter to your mixing bowl and mix just until light and fluffy.
Add sugar and mix until combined.
Add almond extract and lemon zest and mix until combined.
Slowly add sifted flour and sprinkle of salt.
Mix until incorporated and you have a nice dough texture.
Lightly dust a cutting board with confectioner's sugar (or flour) and roll your dough out into a disk shape.
Cut the dough in half, wrap in parchment paper or saran wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Remove one disk after chilled and roll out on a cutting board until about ¼ inch thick.
If your dough is sticky, lightly sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or flour.
Use your Linzer cookie cutter to cut the shapes for the bottom of the cookie.
Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake on 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.
Remove once they start to appear firm in the oven- just before they start to gently brown.
Set aside and let cool on a cooling rack.
Take the second disk of dough and roll out.
Cut equal numbers of the top of the LInzer cookie with the small center cut out shape.
Place both the mini cut out shapes and the top cookies on a baking sheet for about 8 minutes.
Check often as the mini hearts will burn quickly!
Remove mini hearts first and continue to cook larger cookies until they appear smooth and firm.
Place on a cooling rack. Once cooled sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.
Please a few spoonfuls of raspberry jam into a Ziploc and trim off the end.
Pipe a quarter size amount of jam onto the bottom cookie.
Carefully place top cookie on top.
Enjoy!

Here are a few notes for cookie perfection:

*The dough should be well chilled. About 30-45 minutes is ideal. If it isn’t cold enough the dough will be sticky and hard to roll out.

*The original recipe calls for vanilla only (no almond or lemon)- in a pinch you can make them that way but I find the almond and lemon zest really adds something special to this cookie. The lemon especially is just wonderful with the raspberry jam.

*The baking time will depend on your cookie cutter size. I found about 12 minutes was right for my cookies. Be very careful as these brown fast. I may or may not have burned two batches and had to toss every last cookie out.

*If you don’t have a Linzer cookie cutter you can always just use a mini cookie cutter to create the inner cut out.

It really does help to pop the jam in a Ziploc to pipe it on (as opposed to just spooning onto the cookie.) Oh and you can substitute strawberry jam for raspberry but our results were so much better.