Linzer Dough Recipes

LINZER TARTS

Steps:

• Beat butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in 1/2 cup flour, the ground almonds, and cinnamon. Mix in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the mixture becomes a slightly stiff dough.
• Shape the dough into a ball; divide it in half. Wrap both halves in wax paper or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough into a sheet 1/8 inch thick. With a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut as many circles from the sheet as you can. Knead the leftover scraps of dough into a ball and roll it out again into a 1/8 inch sheet. Cut out more circles. You should now have about 12 circles.
• Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch of space between them. Refrigerate while working with remaining dough.
• Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the other half of the dough, but after placing the second batch on the baking sheet, cut out the center of each circle with a 1/2 inch cookie cutter.
• Bake cookies in preheated oven until light brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes.
• Spread a thin coating of jam on each of the cookie rounds. Set a cutout cookie on top of each, pressing the two together so they make a sandwich. Spoon a dab of jam into the opening of each tart and sprinkle the tops with confectioners' sugar before serving.

LINZERTORTE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add eggs and lemon zest; stir until mixture forms a ball. Divide into fourths. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until chilled. , Remove two portions of dough from refrigerator; press each into an ungreased 9-in. fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Spread 2/3 cup jam over each., Between two sheets of lightly floured waxed paper, roll one portion of remaining dough into a 10x6-in. rectangle. Cut six 1-in.-wide strips; arrange in a lattice design over jam. Repeat with remaining dough (return dough to the refrigerator if needed). , Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly and crust is browned. Cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.

LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor for a few seconds until combined. Add butter and pulse several times until mixture becomes crumbly and resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolk and vanilla, and keep pulsing until dough starts to clump together. The dough should be crumbly with large clumps. If dough is too dry, add a bit of water. Another way to check if the dough is done is to take a piece of dough and press it between your thumbs - the dough should stick well together without feeling dry. Avoid overworking the dough throughout the process.
• Turn the dough to a floured surface and form into a disc. Wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days.
• Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line pans with parchment paper and set aside.
• Roll out dough on a floured surface until it's about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick (for sandwich cookies I prefer thin cookies). Cut 60 rounds or hearts of dough using a 2 inch (5 cm) cookie cutter. Using a smaller round (or other shape) cutter, cut a hole into the center of 30 of the cookies.
• Transfer cookies gently using a thin spatula to the prepared baking sheets, placing them 1 inch apart.
• Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are golden just at the edges. Let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Sift powdered sugar on top of the cookies with the holes.
• Put about 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the center of the whole cookies, then place the cookies with the holes on top, and press gently.
• Store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, cocoa, salt and spices; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in almonds. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. round or cookie cutter. From the center of half the cookies, cut out a 1-1/2-in. shape., Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., Spread bottom of each solid cookie with 1/2 teaspoon jam. Sprinkle cutout cookies with confectioners' sugar; carefully place over jam.

ROASTED WALNUT LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt into a bowl, set aside.

LINZER DOUGH

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Spread almonds on a baking sheet and toast 8 to 10 minutes, shaking pan occasionally; do not brown. Let cool. Finely grind in a spice grinder. You will have about a cup.
• Combine almonds, flour, sugar, salt, spices, and zest in a food processor. Add butter and process with short pulses until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• In a small bowl, combine egg yolks, ice water, and extract. With machine running, add yolk mixture to processor. Process for no longer than 30 seconds. If mixture does not hold together when squeezed, add additional water, a few teaspoons at a time, until it does.
• Wrap in plastic and chill about 1 hour.

LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Toast the slivered almonds on the stovetop in a dry skillet, over low heat until light golden brown, watching carefully so they do not burn. This should take about 5-7 minutes. Cool, then pulse in a food processor into coarse crumbs. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar with an electric mixer, until just combined, about a minute.
• Add the vanilla extract, orange extract, orange zest, and the egg to the butter mixture. Continue beating for about 30 more seconds.
• Add flour, incorporating into the butter mixture until just combined. Fold in ground nuts just until combined. Careful not to overmix, so the dough stays tender.
• Divide the dough in half, roll the dough out between 2 pieces of parchment sprinkled with flour to about ¼" thickness.
• Transfer the dough to a large baking sheet. Roll out the other half of the dough in the same fashion. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. (You can stack the sheets of rolled dough on top of each other, while rolled out in the parchment paper).
• After chilling, remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove the parchment paper.
• Preheat oven to 350℉. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Working with the first half of the chilled dough, cut out as many circles as possible with a scalloped circle cookie cutter or linzer cookie cutter. This will be the solid "bottom" part of the cookie sandwich. Transfer those cookies to the baking sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.
• With the second half of the dough, cut out the "tops" of the cookies, using the same size cookie cutter and then a smaller shape to create a "window" where the fruit preserves will peek through. Transfer to a baking sheet. Be sure to cut the same amount of tops and bottoms (so that they will pair up nicely). With the pieces of cookie that were cut out of the window, you could either bake them for cute tiny cookies, or add to the "scraps" pile to reroll.
• Bake cookies for approximately 12-14 minutes, or until edges are just starting to turn brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
• While baking cookies, re-roll the remaining scraps, chill on parchment paper, and cut more cookies as directed above.
• When cookies are cooled, spread about 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry preserves on the middle of a cookie (one of the full bottom cookies).
• To the window cookies (the ones with the shape cut out), sprinkle with powdered sugar. Place these gently on the cookie with preserves, pressing lightly.

LINZER DOILY WREATHS

Steps:

• Whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Beat the butter, granulated sugar and orange zest together in on medium-high speed in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low until just combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until fully combined. Divide the dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to a day ahead.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out one half of the dough until it is roughly 1/4-inch thick. Place a clean woven cloth doily over top of the dough (or multiple doilies, if they are smaller) and gently press down with the rolling pin to adhere the doily to the dough. Roll out the dough with the doily until it is closer to 1/8-inch thick. Carefully peel off the doily, leaving behind an impression. If the dough sticks to the counter, use a bench scraper or large offset spatula to gently release it, keeping the impression of the doily intact.
• Cut out circles from the dough with a 2 1/2-inch fluted round cutter. Cut out the center of the circles with a 1-inch fluted round cutter to create wreath shapes. Use an offset spatula to transfer the wreaths to the prepared sheet pans, spacing them 2 inches apart. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake until golden brown around the very edges, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Gather the scraps and roll them out again and repeat imprinting the dough with the doily, refrigerating the dough if it gets too soft.
• Roll out the second half of the dough but do not imprint with the doily (this will be the bottom half of the cookie); punch out wreaths with the fluted cutters and continue to freeze and bake, rolling out the scraps again.
• Cool the cookies on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
• Transfer the raspberry jam to a small piping bag and snip off the end. Pipe a ring of jam around each of the flat cookies, and then sandwich them with the textured cookies on top. Whisk together the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons of water and 1 drop green gel food coloring. Adjust the color as desired. Use a pastry brush to spread the glaze over the tops of the cookies, then immediately place a red candy bow on each cookie. Let dry, about 30 minutes.