The season of Baking, Christmas is not complete without baking cookies. You can never have too many kinds of Christmas cookies, especially when they are as good as these ones – Linzer! Being a novice baker, I always like to tackle simple, straightforward yet delectable baking recipes in my own kitchen and past year these Linzer cookies had been playing on my mind, since our holiday to Austria where we got these cookies from but I did not taste as they were made with eggs. So this Christmas we all fell for these sweet and crumbly shortbread cookies which are filled with the tart flavour of jam. Obviously, I baked these incredibly delicious cookies before Christmas, but life got so busy and on top of that became ill so I had to take a break from blogging and social media … better late than never! More Eggless Christmas Baked Goodies on JCO – Mini Panettone
WHAT ARE LINZER COOKIES?
These adorable Linzer cookies hail from the Linz city of Austria. This Linzer cookies recipe is a small version of Linzertorte, one of the oldest known baked goodies in the world and popular in Austria. A rich pastry flan prepared with ground hazelnuts or almonds and spiced such as cinnamon and clove and filled with jam. Usually, Linzer cookies are just a mini version of the nutty and buttery Linzertorte and these cookies are a staple during Christmas period in Austria and Germany.
LET’S SORT OUT THE INGREDIENTS!
Traditional Austrian Linzer cookies are prepared with rich and buttery shortbread dough which is prepared with either ground almonds or hazelnuts and eggs, but I have made without eggs and yet cookies turned out fabulous. So for the cookies dough, you’ll need plain flour, butter, sugar, ground nuts, ground spices and baking agent. Once cookies are baked, they are spread with tart jam and mostly raspberry or blackcurrant jam, preserve or jelly used for filling. Once filled with jam, the top part of cookies dusted with icing sugar to give a festive look.
DO I NEED PROPER LINZER COOKIE CUTTER SET?
To prepare Linzer cookies you don’t require a proper cutter set. They can be made perfect with even ordinary cookie cutter. You just need one size cookie cutter and a tiny cap of any bottle to cut out the small hole. However, if you really want to be creative you can buy a different shape and size cookie cutter such as Snowflakes or Star cutter.
TIPS FOR MAKING LINZER COOKIES!
Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Once the dough is prepared, wrap it in a cling film or greaseproof paper and chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Work fairly quick when you work with dough and cut out the cookies so the dough stays chilled and firm. If you feel that cookies are getting soft, place them back in the refrigerator until the dough has firmed up again. This will help them retain their original shape and prevent cookies from spreading.
CAN I USE WHOLE NUTS TO MAKE EGGLESS LINGER COOKIES?
Of course, you can, if ground almond or hazelnuts not available where you are. If you are using whole almonds or hazelnuts, toast them in the oven for 8-10 minutes on 350F. Let it cool completely then grind it in a food processor with 1/4 cup sugar.
HOW TO MAKE EGGLESS LINGER COOKIES?
First in a big bowl combine all the dry ingredients such as plain flour, almond or hazelnut flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon powder. In another bowl or stand mixer add unsalted butter and icing sugar, beat until mixture becomes pale and fluffy. Add flour mixture little by little in the butter mixture and combine everything. Divide the dough into two portions, put it on butter or greaseproof paper and cover it with another wax paper. Leave the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 350 F or 180C. Remove the dough from the fridge and leave it for 5 minutes on the worktop. Roll the one disk of dough into approximately 1/8″ thickness and cut the cookies with a cookie cutter. Repeat the same procedure for the second disk of dough but this time cut small top for each cookie, using a small cookie cutter or a cap of the bottle. Arrange the cookies on a lined baking tray and bake them about 12 minutes or until just starting to get golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Dust icing/powdered sugar on baked cookies with cutouts. Spread a teaspoon of jam or preserve on the bottom half of the cookies, top up with cookies with cutouts. Store in a metal tin for up to a week. Do you like to read our blog? Then don’t forget to sign up for email updates to get new recipes delivered right to your inbox. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+. So follow us if you can…We would love to keep in touch with you all:) If you make this recipe, please don’t forget to click a picture and hashtag it #jcookingodyssey. We really want to see 🙂
