Linzer Thumbprints Recipes

RASPBERRY LINZER THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
• Mix margarine with sugars in large bowl. Mix in eggs and vanilla until blended. Gradually add in flour mixture; mix just until blended. Stir in almonds and lemon peel. Drop by tablespoonfuls on ungreased baking sheets, 2 inches (5 cm) apart.
• Bake 7 minutes or until edges are golden. Immediately make an indentation in centres of cookies with the back of a round measuring spoon. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 minutes on a wire rack; remove cookies from sheets and cool completely.
• Sprinkle with icing sugar, then fill indentations evenly with jam; about a half teaspoon each.

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.

EASY LINZER THUMBPRINTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream together shortening, sugar and almond extract in large bowl until well combined. Add egg; beat until light and fluffy. Add ground almonds, flour and salt; mix on medium speed of mixer until well blended.
• Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place on ungreased baking sheets. Indent each ball with thumb.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Fill each indent with scant 1/2 teaspoon fruit preserves or jam. Return to oven; bake an additional 5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cooled, if desired.

LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Pulse together flour and almonds in a food processor until the almonds are very finely ground. Add cinnamon, baking powder and salt, and pulse to blend. (Alternatively, whisk together flour, ground almonds or almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.)
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium-high until the mixture is light, fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and beat until everything is well combined, again stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary.
• Add in dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed, just until incorporated.
• Divide dough in 2 equal pieces, and wrap each piece in cling film, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk. Chill at least 2 hours, up to 5 days ahead.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper so it's about 1/8 inch thick. (Because of the almonds, the dough may crack in places while you're rolling it out. This is O.K., just patch it up with scraps.)
• Using a round cookie cutter 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out as many circles as possible. Take half of these circles and cut out a 1-inch circle from the interior of the larger circles, creating a doughnut shape that will become the top of the cookie. If at any point the dough becomes too soft to cut and cleanly remove from parchment paper, slide it onto a cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator. Gather any scraps of dough, combine them and roll them out, chilling as necessary. Transfer dough circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced 1 inch apart and bake until the edges are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
• To assemble the linzer cookies, spread about a teaspoon of raspberry jam onto the flat sides of the larger circles. Dust the tops of the cutout circles with powdered sugar and place on top of raspberry jam.