Linzer Cookies Recipe | Life Love & Sugar

Dainty and dusted with powdered sugar, these Linzer cookies are crammed together with your favourite fruit jams for a gently candy and nutty afternoon snack. Change the shapes relying on the season and take these from Valentine’s to Christmas in seconds.

Linzer tart cookies on a plate.

Home made Linzer Cookies

With all of the elements from the unique recipe, these buttery Linzer cookies are worthy of any Austrian palace. Historically they’re made with two shortbread cookies which can be sandwiched along with jam. The cutout provides a cute little window to see the colourful jam poking via.

Dusted with powdered sugar, these linzers look very elegant however are very simple to make. By switching the middle cutout from a coronary heart to a tree or a star, these spectacular little cookies are excellent for any special day. Even should you don’t have fruit jam, don’t fear. You may nonetheless make these by filling them with Nutella or cream cheese frosting.

One other beauty of these cookies is that they aren’t too candy. The shortbread is easy, however scrumptious and tender. The filling is frivolously candy and fruity. The mixture is a cookie that’s mild and melts in your mouth.

Holding up a linzer tart cookie in between two fingers.

What Are Linzer Cookies?

Linzer tart cookies are a sort of buttery European sandwich cookie. It consists of two crumbly shortbread cookies joined along with fruit jam or preserves. The flavour of the candy filling doesn’t matter an excessive amount of, however the unique recipe is made with black currant preserves. The cookies are delicately nutty and are sometimes dusted with a little bit of powdered sugar.

What Nationality Are Linzer Cookies?

Linzer tart cookies are initially from Linz, Austria, courting again to the 1650s.

Why Are They Referred to as Linzer Cookies?

They’re named after the historic Linzer torte, a tart made with an almond-based crust, a black currant filling, and a latticed prime. The cookies have the identical three elements besides in sandwich-cookie presentation.

Recipe Components

For such pretty-looking cookies, the substances are fairly easy. Test the recipe card on the backside of the put up for the total quantities.

  • All-purpose flour – No cake flour or bread flour.
  • Almond flour – Don’t substitute this for different varieties of flour. It’ll dry out your cookies.
  • Salt – For taste.
  • Unsalted butter – In case you favor to make use of salted butter, miss the extra salt. Make sure the butter is at room temperature in order that it’ll cream correctly with the sugar.
  • Sugar – Common granulated sugar.
  • Vanilla extract
  • Almond extract – You may substitute it for extra vanilla extract, should you favor, however I actually love the extract taste of the almond.
  • Egg – You’ll want to use massive eggs. These bind the substances collectively, however utilizing a bigger or smaller egg will have an effect on the result.
  • Lemon zest – I really like the refreshing further taste this provides.
  • Powdered sugar – That is additionally known as confectioners’ sugar.
  • Jam – Use your favourite taste!
Linzer cookies on a cooling rack.

Potential Filling Concepts

Listed here are my favourite methods to fill these scrumptious Linzer cookies, apart from jam:

  • Nutella. That is my favourite, however any chocolate-hazelnut unfold will make scrumptious linzer tart cookies.
  • Chocolate ganache: When is chocolate ganache not scrumptious?
  • Peanut butter. For a cross between a linzer and a Nutter-Butter, fill your cookies with peanut butter.
  • Almond butter. It supplies a way more delicate nutty taste whenever you’re not within the temper for full-on peanuts.
  • Lemon curd. Candy and tart lemon curd would go completely.
  • Dulce de leche. After I fill them with dulce de leche, they remind me a little bit of Argentinian alfajores. They’re scrumptious!
  • Cream cheese frosting. Filling them with cream cheese frosting is a good way of utilizing leftovers from desserts and cupcakes.

Learn how to Make Linzer Cookies

They’re not onerous to make however slicing the cookies and filling them requires time and endurance.

  • Whisk the flours. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the all goal flour, almond flour, and salt till properly mixed. Set it apart.
  • Cream the butter. Place the butter and sugar within the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat them over medium pace for 2-3 minutes or till mild and fluffy. It’s prepared when the combination seems to be barely pale.
  • Add the extracts. Pour the vanilla and almond extracts in. Add the egg and lemon zest. Proceed beating over medium pace till properly mixed.
  • Add the dry substances. Add the flour combination into the bowl. Combine till the dough is simply mixed. Don’t overmix. Scrape the perimeters of the bowl.
  • Chill the dough. Use your palms to roll the dough right into a 1″ thick disk and wrap it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for 1-2 hours.
  • Put together the baking tray. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set them apart. You may also use silicone baking mats.
  • Roll it out. Frivolously flour your work floor and rolling pin. Roll the dough out till its 1/4″ thick. You may also do that in between two sheets of parchment paper.
  • Reduce the shapes. Use cookie cutters to chop out your shapes. What number of cookies you get will depend upon the scale of your cutters. Go away half of the cookies with out cutouts within the heart. Re-roll the scraps as soon as and reduce out extra cookies.
  • Bake. Switch the cookies to the lined baking sheets, leaving about 1″ between them. Bake them for 10-12 minutes or till simply earlier than the perimeters start turning golden.
  • Allow them to cool. Take away the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 7-10 minutes earlier than eradicating them from the baking sheet. This can stop them from breaking. Set them apart to chill fully.
  • Assemble them. Mud the cookies with the cutouts within the heart with powdered sugar to style. Unfold about 1-2 teaspoons of jam on every of the stable cookies. Press each cookies collectively to sandwich them. Serve and luxuriate in.

Can The Dough Be Ready Forward of Time?

Completely! This dough will be made as much as 2 days prematurely, so it’s nice for planning forward of time. As soon as prepared, be sure to wrap it in plastic wrap after which refrigerate it. Hold it away from onions and different strong-smelling meals to keep away from the switch of odors.

Linzer tart cookies on a plate.

Ideas for Success

Use these tricks to make excellent linzer cookies each time:

  • Use parchment paper. Rolling the dough between two sheets of parchment paper makes for a simple clean-up and in addition ensures nothing sticks to your counter. It additionally retains your cookies from drying out by including further flour.
  • Weigh your substances. Utilizing a food scale to measure all of the substances will imply your cookies end up precisely the identical each time.
  • Freeze the cut-outs. After slicing out the shapes, pop the unbaked cookies into the freezer for 5-10 minutes to assist them keep their form within the oven.
  • Don’t overwork the dough. Over-kneading the dough will lead to robust, rubbery cookies. Work rapidly and don’t knead it an excessive amount of. In case your dough shrinks whenever you roll it out, it’s overworked and it’s finest to start out over.

Linzer Cookie Cutters

As talked about above, these are nice for any variety of holidays or events. Change up the cutters for each!

  • Valentine’s Day/Basic Set: This set features a coronary heart that I used for these cookies for Valentine’s Day, in addition to different shapes like a circle, star, flower and extra.
  • Easter: A chick and bunny would make an lovely addition with this cutter set.
  • Christmas: This set has a Christmas tree, sweet cane cutter and extra.
  • Halloween/Fall: The smaller cutters in this set ought to work properly for a bat and pumpkin.

Correct Storage

Relying on what you crammed the cookies with, retailer them in an hermetic container at room temperature or within the fridge. They’ll final for as much as 5 days over-the-counter or as much as per week within the fridge.

Can You Freeze Linzer Cookies?

Sure! You may freeze unbaked and baked Linzer cookies.

Organize them on the baking sheet and freeze them for 1 hour. Then switch them to a freezer-friendly bag or container. In case you freeze them unbaked, when able to bake, place them on the baking sheet and add a couple of minutes to the baking time. In the event that they’re already baked, you may freeze them with or with out the jam, simply skip including the powdered sugar (which can disappear upon thawing). When able to eat, thaw them and fill them, if want.

Each baked and unbaked linzers will final for as much as 3 months within the freezer.

Extra Traditional Cookies

See How To Make Linzer Cookies

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Linzer tart cookies on a plate.