Linzer Cookies
These traditional festive cookies find their origin in Linz, Austria. I really like them because not only are they very easy to make, they are also very pretty and don’t need any creative skills to become so good-looking ;)
This recipe was taken from the Carrefour Belgium’s December magazine issue. You can find it here in Dutch but for my English followers and readers I will type it down below for you to try at home as well!
What do you need?
100g almond flour (powdered, bleached almonds)
230g flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
225g softened butter
135g sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
your favourite jam (I used strawberry jam)
icing sugar to decorate
What do you need to do?
Mix together the almond flour, regular flour, salt and cinnamon.
In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, whip the softened butter with the sugar until the mixture becomes a lighter shade, more white than yellow. Then one by one, add the egg yolks, zest and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Continue to knead the the dough and when smooth, divide into two and wrap separately in cling film. Leave to cool and rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
When ready, pre-heat the oven to 180°C and flour your working bench or surface.
Roll the dough out to about 5mm thick and cut out your cookies with a cookie shape. I used a Christmas ornament shape. Do the same thing with the second ball of dough and make sure you cut the same amount of cookies from both balls. The second batch also need a smaller shape cut out of them so they look a bit like a donut.
Place on an oven tray that was covered with baking paper and bake for 10-15 minutes.
When golden, take them out of the oven and leave to cool them on a wire rack. Once they are cool, top the cookies without a hole with a dollop of jam. The ones shaped like a flat donut can be covered with icing sugar.
Top the ones with jam with the sugared ones and press down so the jam pops out a little out of the hole.
You can definitely play with whichever jam you prefer as well as shapes! These cookies are great on the day itself BUT I do like to eat them the next day because it will allow them to become a bit more chewy.
Enjoy making these! Even the kids will love getting in on that!
