Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies

 

I have a very specific picture in my head when I think of a Holiday Cookie Platter. Gingerbreads, a smattering of butter cookies, an array of sugar cookies, perhaps a few “American” macaroons…..and of course, Linzer Cookies.

These buttery cookies first originated in Austria and were derived from the Linzertorte—which is essentially a tart filled with preserves. How did these buttery delights converge as a holiday cookie staple? The world may never know. But I was inspired by the recent wave of Linzer Cookies postings in the blogosphere and decided to try my hand at the wonderful Dorie Greenspan’s take on these delectable bites.

The ending results yielded a rich and buttery cookie that had a lovely “nutty” flavor profile due to the almond meal I used. The richness from the cookies were “cut” by the tart raspberry jam I used to sandwich these goodies. A rad balance indeed.

What could have I done better? Well, I won’t lie. The recipe called for me to roll the dough to a ¼ inch thickness and I may have gone a smidge thicker.

Just a “smidge” mind you. 🙂

But still, the cookie sammy was too thick once all was said and done. My suggestion, if you’re going to deviate from the recipe—-go a smidge thinner and reduce the baking time.

Did I care much? Nah…when a cookie is this tasty, very little matters.

And as I wipe the cookie crumbs away from my mouth, I wonder….How many other Holiday treats can this gal cram in before the holidays end????

 

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Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies
From Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

1½  Cups Finely Ground Almonds
1½  Cups Flour
1½  Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
¼  Teaspoon Salt
¼  Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 Large Egg
2 Teaspoon Water
½  Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
½  Cup Sugar
½  Cup Raspberry Jam plus 1 Teaspoon Water
Confectioner’s Sugar, for dusting

In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground nuts, flour, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. In a small bowl, lightly beat together the egg and water.

In an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture and beat until combined. On low speed, add the nut and flour mixture and beat only until just combined.

Divide the dough into two halves, and shape each half into a disk. Place each disk between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap, and with a rolling pin roll out until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. Place both pieces of wrapped dough on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for about 2 hours, or freeze for about 45 minutes, or until firm. If you don’t want to bake right away, you can keep the dough refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months.

After dough is firm, preheat oven to 375ºF and place rack in center of oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Using a 2-inch round (or scalloped) cookie cutter, cut out, cut out as many cookies as possible. If you want a hole in the top cookie so you can see the jam inside, use a small cookie cutter to cut a small shape out of the center of half of the cookies.
Set the scraps aside, you can combine them with the scraps from the second sheet of dough.

Place cutout cookies on the cookie sheet, leaving space in between cookies. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Repeat with the second sheet of dough, and also roll the scraps out between two sheets of wax paper and repeat.

While cookies are cooling, combine the jam and teaspoon of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat. Remove from heat and let cool.

Spread half of the cookies with about 1/2 tsp of jam and sandwich together with another cookie. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Makes about 25 sandwich cookies.