Description
These traditional holiday cookies come originally from the Austrian Linzer Torte, which of course was originated in Austria. The Linzer Torte is said to be the oldest cake in the world. Tortes are a type of cake that contain little wheat flour and instead they are made with nuts. Linzer Torte is usually filled with some jam or preserve or covered with thin stripes of dough which form a beautiful design. The cookie version has also a fruity jam filling and is usually cut in a beautiful shape.
Ingredients
Scale
Dough
- 210g un-blanched roast
- 250g all purpose flour
- 285g unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 egg
- 150g sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
Filling
- 250g raspberries (frozen or natural)
- 450g sugar
Decoration
- Confectioners sugar to dust
Instructions
Raspberry Jam filling (do it 2 or 3 hours in advance)
- Process the berries in a food processor until converted to purée;
- Place berries in a saucepan and heat them over high heat. Bring them to boil and leave them for 1 minute;
- Remove from heat and add the sugar;
- Return it to heat and leave it to boil until the gel is formed. This would happen approximately after 6 o 7 minutes;
- How to test the gel: grab a small portion of the mixture with a wooden spoon and put it away from fire and heat over a small plate. Turn the spoon 90% degrees and see how the mixture goes down. If it’s too runny it’s not ready, it will be ready when the drops are dense and they slowly fall into the plate;
- Let the jam cool completely before filling the cookies.
Dough
- With the help of a food processor, grind the roasted almonds until they are reduced to powder;
- Incorporate the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt to the food processor. Pulse until the mix is homogeneous;
- In a separate big bowl beat the softened butter and the sugar until well blended. This can be done by hand or with any mixer. The mixture should have a soft yellow colour and the volume is almost double. Do not over mix or the butter will start to separate;
- Add the egg to the mixture and mix until well blended;
- In 3 steps incorporate the almond mixture to the butter, mixing well in each step. At the end when the dough is starting to form. Avoid kneading the dough with the hands;
- Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour covered with plastic foil.
Cookies
- Preheat the oven at 350º F (180º C);
- After the dough is cold, take it out from the fridge, sprinkle some flour in a cold and stable surface (marble or metal work perfectly!) and roll the dough with a rolling pin until 5mm thin. Try to avoid touching the dough with the fingerprints a lot so it stays cold;
- Using a big cookie cutter, cut the desired shapes. Remember that you will need 2 cuts per cookie. You can re-roll dough leftovers avoiding over kneading them with the fingers. Use the palm of the hand instead to join together scraps of dough;
- Using a small cookie cutter, cut out the centre of half of the cookies;
- Bake them at 350º F (180º C) between 11-13 min or until they are golden brown;
- Let them cool on a cookie rack and you are ready to fill them up!
Assembly
- Take the cookie with no hole and add a dollop of jam in the center, it should be 1 cm high and 1 cm away of the border of the cookie;
- Cover with the hollowed cookie and press until the jam is visible on the border of the cookie sandwich;
- Dust with confectioners sugar.
- Prep Time: 2 hours + 15 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Cuisine: German