Winter Linzers

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It was freaky cold last weekend (twenty seven below Sunday night). The heat shut down in the house Friday. But we didn’t know that. I piled on the sweaters, but couldn’t warm up, like when the flu felled me. By the time we figured it out, it was too late to do anything more than hunker down under double wool blankets and down comforter, bundled up in double fleece pj’s and double wool socks. 

Saturday morning, I layered on an ankle length down coat and wool scarf, then called Friend Karl, who helps us with house ailments. His phone was down. But I didn’t know that.  I left a message, brewed coffee, cooked oatmeal, and revised a blog post. When the tip of my nose broke off and the tips of my fingers shattered plinking the keyboard, I got Karl’s voice mail again. Hubby and Son zipped up their fleece jackets. Poodle-Oodle slept curled nose to butt on the couch.

When Karl arrived mid-day, we rushed him: Yay! The Marines are here! While he carried on in the basement, I baked linzer cookies in the kitchen. Close to the oven, puffy coat sleeves pushed up to the elbows, I rolled out dough, cut circles and hearts with cookie cutters, baked the cookies, and two by two, turned them into scrumptious, crumbly almond shortbread sandwiches filled with smooth, slightly tart raspberry jam.

Late in the afternoon, heat wafted from vents. Unzipped, we basked around the table over linzers and coffee.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine

Linzer Cookies

The recipe calls for almonds, but hazelnuts or pecans work great too. If you use blanched almonds or hazelnuts, the powder will be off white.  Using nuts in their skins does not effect flavor, but the powder will be brown speckled. Apricot jam makes just as tasty a filling as raspberry jam.

This recipe calls for a 2 ½ to 3 inch cutter, but feel free to experiment! To make a “window” in the top cookie when they are sandwiched, use a tiny cutter to press the center out of half the cookies.

Traditionally, the top cookie of the sandwich gets a confectioners’ sugar dusting. The snowy whiteness brings out the dark sheen of the jam, but it drifts and makes a mess. So I leave the cookies undressed!

Makes about 18, more or less, depending on the size of your cookie cutters. 

  • 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 16 tablespoons (2 sticks or ½ pound) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 ounces (about 1 cup) whole almonds, finely ground in the food processor
  • 1 cup seedless raspberry jam (I like Trappist brand)
  • Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
  • 2 or 3 cookie sheets covered in parchment paper or foil

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, salt and spices together. 

In a food processor, grind the almonds finely. With a rubber spatula, scrape out the nut powder into the bowl with flour and spices. Whisk to combine thoroughly. Reassemble the processor bowl and blade with the motor base for next step. (No need to wash the bowl or blade!)

In the food processor, beat together the butter and sugar until soft and light, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, spice and almond mixture in thirds till the dough comes together. If the dough seems a bit crumbly, add a few drops of water and pulse, repeating as needed till it holds together loosely, without being wet.

Lay out two long strips of plastic wrap in a cross on the counter. 

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough onto the plastic wrap. Lifting up one edge of plastic wrap at a time, press the dough into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Wrap in a third piece of plastic wrap and chill the dough till it is firm, about an hour, or up to several days.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, set the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Cut the dough into 3 parts, returning 2 back to the fridge after rewrapping. Place one third on a floured surface, and flour it lightly. Flour the rolling pin lightly. Press and pound the dough gently with the rolling pin to soften it, then roll it out to about ¼ inch thick.

Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into rounds or hearts or whatever the shape of your cutter. If you have a tiny cutter, use it to cut the center out of half the cookies, to make a “window” when they are sandwiched. Leaving the cookies solid is OK too. Mass the scraps together, roll them out again, and cut more cookies. Repeat with the other two thirds dough in fridge. 

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, or until they are a very pale golden color. Slide the parchment/foil with cookies off the pan onto the rack. If you reuse the pan, either: let it cool off before placing raw cookies on it, or if hot, slide a parchment/foil sheet prepped with cookies on it and immediately pop it in the oven.

While the cookies are baking, bring the jam to a simmer in a small saucepan for the filling over low heat, stirring occasionally. Let the jam reduce until it has thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. (Because Trappist brand jam is so smooth, I skip this step! I do stir it vigorously in the jar, which makes it very smooth, and thickly pourable.)

After the cookies have cooled, dust the center-cut cookies lightly with confectioners’ sugar. (I find dusted cookies messy to eat, so I skip this step!) 

Invert the solid cookies and spread each with about a ½ teaspoon of jam. Add a little mound of extra jam in the center. Top with the center-cut cookies, sugar side up. Press very gently to encourage the extra jam in the center of the bottom cookie to well up into the window of the top one. Voila! Linzers! 

Store the finished cookies between sheets of parchment or wax paper in a tin or plastic container with a tight fitting cover. 

(Adapted from Cookies Unlimited, by Nick Malgieri, @2000, Harper-Collins Publishers. Excellent cookie cook book!)