Linzer Cookies
Elevate your Christmas baking with elegant Linzer Cookies – jam-filled jewels sure to be the most beautiful cookie on your holiday trays!
Easy, yet exquisite, Austrian Linzer Cookies – a colorful, buttery shortbread recipe that’s guaranteed to impress! Combining all-purpose & almond flour gives this European treasure a nutty crunch that’s balanced with a tart, fruity filling and a sweet dusting of powdered sugar. Linzer sandwich cookies are a MUST for holiday gifting!
Festive and Fun for Every Season!
Break out the cookie cutters and make the best, most beautiful Christmas cookie recipe ever! These lightly crunchy, buttery, raspberry Linzer Cookies, with their amazing almond flavor and colorful jam filling are homemade cookies at their finest!
But wait! These cookies aren’t just for Christmas! Heart shapes and strawberry jam make them perfect for Valentine’s Day! Leaf shapes with orange marmalade and a sprinkle of nutmeg take on Thanksgiving! Add a bit of lemon zest to the dough and fill with lemon curd for a summer brunch treat. These amazing Austrian Linzers are limited only by your imagination!
Other Recipes to Serve with Raspberry Linzer Cookies
- If you like traditional Linzer Cookies, you’ll love these super pretty, soft-baked Cake Mix Thumbprint Cookies!
- Easy and oh-so-scrumptious Raspberry Cheesecake Bites offer another option for your raspberry jam!
Ingredients
Dry Dough: All-purpose flour and almond flour (blanched is best) combine with a little sea salt and granulated sugar for a nutty, not-too-sweet cookie dough!
Wet Dough: Softened butter, vanilla extract and egg round out this shortbread cookie batter!
Jam: To fill these Linzer cookies, you will want a thick jam! We’re using raspberry for Christmas, but strawberry, peach, blackberry or orange marmalade all make beautiful sandwich cookies!
Garnish: Icing sugar (powdered sugar) will be used as a dusting over the top of these delicious cookies!
How to Make Linzer Cookies
STEP ONE: Start by whisking the all-purpose flour, almond flour and sea salt together and set aside. Using a stand mixer, combine the softened butter and granulated sugar and cream together on medium-high for a couple of minutes, scraping down the sides as you go. Add in egg and vanilla at the end and mix gently until JUST combined.
STEP TWO: Turn the mixer to low speed and slowly add in the dry ingredients. Then mix for about 2 minutes until everything is combined.
STEP THREE: Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it on a big piece of plastic wrap. Flatten the dough into a circle about 1 inch thick. Seal it in the plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
STEP FOUR: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet (or 2) with parchment paper. Generously flour a work surface and roll out the dough 1/4-inch in thickness. Using a 2-inch Linzer cookie cutter, cut out the main cookie, and place it onto the prepared baking sheet. Knead the remaining dough back together, roll again to 1/4-inch thickness, and continue to cut out cookies until you have used up all the dough you can. You want there to be an even number, this recipe should make about 40 cookies.
STEP FIVE: Using the smaller Linzer cookie cutter, cutout shapes from the middle in half of the cookies. You can place the cutout pieces next to the large cookies too. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes, removing just as the edges begin to get golden.
STEP SIX: Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. To assemble, lightly dust the “top” cookies (with the center cutout) with powdered sugar. Add jam to the “bottom” cookies (with no cutout) almost to the edge. Then place the top cookie over the jam and enjoy!
Tips for Success
- While blanched almond flour is preferred for its lighter color and smoother texture, unblanched almond flour will work fine.
- Use a really thick jam – the thicker the better.
- After baking, sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar onto the top layer cookies before filling them with jam (so you don’t hide the pretty colors of the jam!)
- Chill the dough before baking to keep the cookies from spreading.
- If you chill the dough, it may need to sit out for a few minutes to be the right “rolling” consistency.
- Substitute almond extract for vanilla extract for a stronger almond flavor.
- Use parchment paper rather that a cooking spray, which can also make the cookies spread too much.
What are Linzer Cookies?
Raspberry Linzer Cookies are a European variation of Austria’s Linzer Torte – a classic fruit pastry with a lattice crust.
The cookie version has a rolled almond flour dough that is cut into two different shapes to make a sandwich cookie. The bottom cookie is solid while the top cookie displays a delicate open design, allowing the colorful jam filling to shine through!
Spectacularly pretty with a crumbly shortbread consistency, the Linzer Cookie is destined to become the most attractive, appealing cookie you’ll ever make!
Why is my Cookie Dough Sticking to my Rolling Pin?
It’s hard to work with a sticky dough! To get a perfect cookie dough consistency, start with ingredients that are all at room temperature (specifically butter and eggs) and don’t over-mix the dough.
Using melted butter in combination with cold eggs can make your dough sticky and hard to work with. And overmixing the ingredients can make your batter too warm, also resulting in stickiness.
To solve the problem of a too-gooey batter, simply chill the dough for a few minutes then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface before rolling and cutting.
Other Fabulous European-Inspired Holiday Dessert Recipes!
- Cheese Danish
- Dutch Baby
- Italian Almond Cake
- Cranberry Pistachio Russian Tea Cakes
- Candy Cake Cherry Danish
- Gingersnap Cheesecake Bars
Linzer Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup raspberry jam for filling
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and vanilla and mix just until combined.
- Turn the mixer to low speed and slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. Then, mix for about 2 minutes until well combined.
- Place the cookie dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and flatten it into a disk shape that's about 1 inch thick. Wrap to seal the dough, and then place it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet (or two) with parchment paper.
- Generously flour a surface and roll out the dough to ¼-inch thick. Using a 2-inch wide Linzer cookie cutter, punch out the main cookie shape from the dough and place it onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper. As needed, knead and re-roll dough until you have used up as much cookie dough as possible. You want there to be an even number of cookies (you should get about 40 from this recipe.)
- Using the smaller Linzer cookie cutters, create the center shape by punching out the middle in half of the cookies. (You can place these pieces around the cookies and bake them too for snacks.)
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, until the edges should just start to get golden. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (about 30 minutes).
- To assemble: Sift powdered sugar over the cookies with a cutout in the center – these are the "tops". Then take the "bottom" cookie (without a cutout) and spread about 1 teaspoon of jam almost to the edges. Place the top cookie over the jam and repeat until all the sandwich cookies have been assembled.
Notes
- If you want to make the cookie dough in advance, you can. Once you reach the chilling step, leave the dough in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. The cookie dough will need to sit out on the counter for about 2 hours to be soft enough to roll (if the dough is chilled for 1 or more hours).
- To prevent smudging the powdered sugar, pick up the “top” cookies by the edge when placing them over the jam.
- You can use any flavor of jam or jelly you like to fill these cookies.
