Description
Delightfully buttery and almond-flavored Linzer cookies that look intricate but are easy to make. These shortbread-style cookies are filled with your choice of jam or curd and dusted with powdered sugar for a beautiful holiday treat.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 180g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 65g powdered sugar (icing sugar), sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 225g all-purpose flour
- 90g almond flour / almond meal
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
For Assembly
- Powdered sugar to dust
- Jam or curd of your choice for filling
Instructions
- Whip Butter Mixture: Place the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl and whip on high speed with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. This can also be done using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Add the all-purpose flour, almond flour, and salt to the whipped butter mixture and mix until just combined to form the dough.
- Shape Dough: Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and use the parchment to shape it into a rectangle if needed. Top with another piece of parchment paper.
- Roll Dough: Roll out the dough between the two parchment sheets to about 6mm (0.25 inches) thickness.
- Chill Dough: Transfer the dough with the parchment to a sheet pan and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours or up to three days for the dough to firm up.
- Preheat Oven and Freeze Dough: When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer the chilled dough with parchment paper to the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.
- Cut Cookies: Remove the top parchment and use a 2-inch (5cm) fluted cutter to cut out circles. Place cookies on baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and cut additional cookies after re-freezing.
- Cut Shapes from Top Cookies: Using a small cutter, cut shapes from the middle of half the cookies to create the decorative top halves.
- Freeze Before Baking: Freeze the cut-out cookies for 10 minutes before baking to help them hold their shape during baking.
- Bake Cookies: Bake one tray at a time for 11-12 minutes until cookies are set and lightly golden around edges. Adjust baking time if cookies are rolled thicker or thinner.
- Cool Cookies: Let cookies cool completely on the baking sheet, then repeat baking with the second tray.
- Assemble Cookies: Dust the top cookies (with cut-outs) with powdered sugar. Spread jam or curd on the bottom cookies to just before the edges. Carefully sandwich with the powdered tops facing out.
- Store: Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They are best eaten within a few days, or you can store cookies and filling separately and assemble as needed.
Notes
- Linzer cookies have a buttery almond flavor and a delicate texture that makes them perfect for holidays.
- You can use any flavor jam or curd as a filling to customize the cookies.
- Chilling and freezing the dough helps prevent spreading and maintains the cookie shapes.
- Rolling the dough to the specified thickness ensures even baking and texture.
- Store assembled cookies in an airtight container to keep them fresh, or assemble just before serving.
- If you don’t have vanilla bean paste, use pure vanilla extract instead.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 50 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
