linzer cookies

Yes, this week is another heart-themed cookie (because I’m still a sap). I’ve made linzer cookies before, but I’ve always just used different sized cookie cutters to achieve the effect. I finally broke down and bought an actual linzer cookie cutter though, so I had to use it. For the past couple weeks, I’ve been finding and bookmarking all the linzer recipes in my cookbooks in preparation for this week (sap). Why did I choose this one? Why not. It sounded really good with the combination of spices and zests. Plus I’ve only baked one cookie from this book so far, so it was its turn. 

I’ve been wanting one of these cutters for ages, but could never find one with the shapes I wanted. I eventually just went ahead and bought this one online. It’s about a 2″ round cutter with interchangeable shapes for the window. It also has a plunger to push the cut cookies out if they get stuck inside. Yay! New cookie cutters make me so happy! (/nerd)

There’s a lot of ground nuts in this recipe, and no liquid, just butter (except 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract). As a result, this dough is incredibly crumbly. When it first came out of the food processor, it didn’t want to hold together at all. I’ve had that issue with other cookie doughs though, and find that some time in the refrigerator gives the flour a chance to hydrate and the dough comes together. Not this dough. It came out of the fridge still really crumbly.

Have you ever made a graham cracker crust? That’s what it felt like when I rolled this out – like I was working with wet crumbs. The middle section of rolled dough was usable, but it kept cracking and crumbling apart around the edges. Have I mentioned this dough is crumbly? Eventually I got it all rolled and cut, though. And I only had one cookie fall apart when I tried to transfer it to the baking sheet; so the dough is workable, just a bit fiddly.

If you want, you can save the centre cut-out pieces and bake up some tiny cookies, but you should bake them on a separate sheet as they’ll need less time in the oven than the full-size cookies. I’ve made a note about timing in the recipe below. I just kneaded them back into the unused dough to roll out again so I could get as many full sandwich cookies as possible out of this recipe.

With the almond extract and orange and lemon zests, this dough smells amazing. Once baked, it loses a lot of the aroma, but the flavour is still all there. Or maybe I just got used to it… And that crumbly dough turns into a crumbly yet firm cookie. They don’t fall apart in your hand, but they practically melt in your mouth.

A few of them puffed up slightly and developed a tiny bit of a hump, but for the most part they all retained their shape and stayed flat.

I may have been a bit over-generous with the application of jam (I almost ran out so the last few were a bit light), but it’s not oozing out the sides so I’m not too worried. More is better, right? The recipe didn’t specify an amount, but I ended up using the entire 1-cup jar. You can purée the jam in a blender, but if you want it super smooth you can run it through a food mill to get all the seeds out (I love my food mill, but pushing it through a sieve will work just as well, if slower).

The cookie absorbs moisture and begins to soften after adding the jam, so if you’d prefer your cookies to stay crumbly, don’t assemble them with the jam until you’re ready to serve them. They’re fine soft, too. It’s just whatever your personal preference.