Linzer cookies or Linzer cookies, the original recipe of the Austrian Christmas cookies, the miniature version of the famous Linzer Torte made with a shortcrust pastry with hazelnuts flavored with cinnamon and cloves and filled with delicious cranberry jam.
Like the cookies vanillekipferlen, Linzeraugen are sweets of Austrian origin and are perfect to give as a gift at Christmas. It is very easy to prepare them, you just need to get some Christmas-style cookie cutters like these with star, tree, and gingerbread men shapes, then proceed to make them as you would classic bull’s-eye cookies.
The recipe for Linzer Cookies I received from friends from Trentino during my summer vacation, and I also got cranberry jam there, which I can never find in my city. Of course, in its absence, you can substitute it with raspberry, cherry, mixed berries, or strawberry jam.
These spiced cookies are truly amazing, you absolutely have to try them! I’ll leave you the recipe and happy holidays to everyone!
TRY ALSO:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 30 cookies
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Austrian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients
Yields about 30 Linzer cookies
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup hazelnuts (or hazelnut flour)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 lemon zest (grated)
- to taste ground cinnamon
- to taste ground cloves
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup jam (cranberry)
- to taste powdered sugar
Tools for making Linzer cookies
- Cookie Cutters for Christmas cookies
- Baking Sheet
Linzer Cookies Recipe
Prepare the shortcrust pastry: On a work surface, place the sifted flour in a fountain shape mixed with the baking powder, add in the middle an egg, the cold butter in pieces, the sugar, the cinnamon and ground cloves, the grated lemon zest, and a pinch of salt.
Quickly knead all the ingredients together, then add the finely chopped hazelnuts (or hazelnut flour) and work until you obtain a soft dough.
Shape into a loaf, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Prepare the cookies: After the resting time, retrieve the dough from the fridge, separate a part of it, and roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/6 inch.
Use the appropriate cutters to cut the dough until all is used, on half of the cookies, make a hole with a smaller cutter (tree, star, gingerbread men, etc.) to be placed on top of the whole ones.
You can reuse the scraps by kneading the dough again, rolling it out, and creating new cookies.
Bake the cookies: Once all the cookies are ready, place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake in a static oven at 350°F for about 12-13 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Assemble the cookies: Put a teaspoon of jam in the center of the whole cookies, while on the cookies with the central hole, sprinkle with powdered sugar, then pair them one by one.
Ready to be gifted or served during the holiday season, with Linzer cookies you will make a great impression! Beautiful to look at and delicious to eat with a spiced flavor that will win everyone over, I’m sure!
Storage and Tips
Storage: Linzer cookies, once filled, keep at room temperature for a couple of days. They last much longer without the filling.
Tips: You can replace the cranberry jam with raspberry, cherry, mixed berries, or strawberry jam. You can substitute hazelnuts with almonds in the same quantity.
