SPICED LINZER COOKIES
Spiced Linzer Cookies are a variation of the ever-popular Linzer Cookie. We love the flavours of central Europe that cardamon, cloves, and finely ground black pepper bring. Here, we have also added a little bit of grated orange peel.
Blackcurrant jelly works well in Spiced Linzer Cookies. Feel free to also use red currant or apricot jelly. Raspberry jam is also nice, especially for Christmas.
Spiced Linzer Cookies
Equipment
- · 2 ½ inch cookie cutters
- · Smaller cookie cutters to create peek-a-boo centres for each Linzer cookie
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup almonds
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened, and cut into cubes
- 1 teaspoon orange zest chopped fine
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper finely ground
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 vanilla bean
To Finish
- Blackcurrant jelly
- Confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Pulse the almonds in a food processor to make a fine consistency of almond flour.
- Add the almond flour, all-purpose flour, and baking powder to a medium-sized bowl. Whisk.
- Add the butter, sugar, orange zest, and spices to a large bowl. Beat for 5 minutes.
- Add the egg yolk. Scrape out one-half of the vanilla beanpod. Next, beat for one minute.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed, until justcombined.
- Beat on low speed until just combined.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Once ready, let the dough warm slightly for about 5 minuteson the counter.
- Take two baking sheets and line each with parchment paper orSilpat.
- Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick.
- Cut out cookies forthe top and bottom of the Spiced Linzer Sandwich cookies.
- For top cookies make a peek-a-boo cut out with a smaller cookie cutter.
- Refrigerate the cookie trays for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 F. These cookies bakeneed to bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Cool slightly, thenplace on a wire rack. Once fully cooled, it’s time to assemble.
How to Assemble Linzer Cookies:
Line up all the cut-out cookies. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. These will be the top of the sandwich-style cookie. Next, heat the jam. Spoon it onto the bottom cookies. Carefully press the top on. Heating the jam or jelly helps to fuse and set the cookies together.
More Tips & Tricks
Looking to get ahead with your Christmas baking? Make a double batch. Choose one type of cookie cutter and jam for half the recipes and a different cookie cutter and jam for the other half. Then, you’ll have two different cookies from one dough.
This dough freezes well. Just thaw, roll, and bake when you need it. You can also freeze the cookies. Follow the How to Assemble when ready.
Think about making these sandwich cookies ahead of time. Simply bake, cool, wrap, and freeze. When you are ready to use thaw. Then, follow the instructions for How to Assemble.