Linzer Cookies
Lovely linzers! Who knew it could be this easy to make gorgeous filled cookies?
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup confectioners' or glazing sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 2 drops creamy hazelnut, bitter almond oil, or vanilla butternut flavor
- 1 cup almond flour or 1 cup hazelnut flour, toasted or plain; or 1 cup pecan meal
- 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup seedless raspberry jam or apricot jam; or chocolate praline filling (below)
- confectioners' or glazing sugar, for dusting
Chocolate Praline Filling
- 1/2 cup hazelnut praline paste
- 1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate or 1 cup bittersweet chips
Directions
|
1) To make the cookies: Beat together the butter, sugars, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and flavor. |
|
2) Mix in the nut flour, flour, and egg. |
|
3) Divide the dough in half, wrap, and refrigerate for 60 minutes, for easiest rolling. Towards the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 375°F. |
|
4) Roll the dough 1/8" thick. Cut the dough into shapes with large linzer cutters. Use small cutters to cut a design out of the center of half the cookies. |
|
5) Transfer the cookies to an ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet. |
|
6) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned on the edges. Remove from the oven, and cool on a rack. While the cookies are cooling, make the filling. |
|
7) To make the filling: Melt the praline paste and chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave on low power, stirring until smooth. Cool to lukewarm. |
|
8) Lightly dust the cookies with cutout centers with confectioners' sugar. Spread the solid cookies with 3/4 teaspoon praline filling or jam. Place a cutout cookie on top of each filled cookie. Let stand for several hours, until the filling is set. |
|
Yield: about 5 dozen filled cookies. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 15 mins. to 30 mins.
- Baking time:
- 25 mins. to 35 mins.
- Total time:
- 40 mins. to 1 hrs 5 mins.
- Yield:
- about 5 dozen filled cookies
-
-
- Recipe comments (3) »
Reviews
12/11/2009
This recipe is easy to do and fun for the kids.
12/06/2009
I live in Central Europe and had to make my own almond meal (having never seen any before). I didn't want to overwhelm any almond flavor, so I cut the cinnamon to a scant 1/2 tsp. I thought that nutmeg suited almond better, and grated in about 1/8 tsp. fresh nutmeg. I was distracted after getting the dough out to soften up before rolling, and let it soften too much. As I started to roll it out, I could see the cutouts might tear and would be hard to handle, so I went to the blog and did the 'thumbprints' alternative. Worked fine. Probably my dough was too soft/too wet (no KA flour in Central Europe where I am), and the thumbprint holes 'filled in.' I just pushed down on the warm cookies when they came out of the oven or dabbed the jam on top. Despite having to wing it a bit with the recipe, they look great and taste wonderful. That's what I love about KA recipes: so often they work even when you have no KA flour or have to adapt the recipe somehow. Definitely worth a try even if you don't have a knack for cut-out cookies.
11/06/2009
I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose flour. Wow! They came out really delicious and delecate.
Bookmark/share
this recipe