Linzer Sandwich Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• For the cookie batter: In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the butter until smooth. Add the granulated sugar and continue mixing until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, 5 to 8 minutes.
• In another bowl, combine and mix the flour, almonds, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Mix and roll the cookies: Because this dough has a good amount of butter, it needs resting time and it needs to be rolled fairly quickly. Lay three large pieces of wax paper in a single layer on a flat surface. Sprinkle each one with a light coating of flour. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, blend the flour mixture in with the butter. When the ingredients are fully integrated, place one third of the batter on each of the pieces of wax paper. Coat with another light layer of flour and top with another piece of wax paper of the same length to make three dough "sandwiches." Press these wax-paper-and-dough-sandwiches down with your hands until the dough is fairly thin. This will save a lot of time on rolling later on. Place two of them in the refrigerator and work with them one at a time. Roll the first batch into as neat a shape as possible. What matters most is avoiding creases or cracks and getting it to about 1/8 inch in thickness. When the first is rolled, refrigerate it and repeat the same process for the other two. Let them chill at least 10 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Make the cookie bottoms: Remove the first rolled sheet from the refrigerator and cut as many 1 1/2-inch stars (or rounds) as you can. Reserve the scraps in the refrigerator. Arrange the stars neatly in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with the other two sheets, reserving any scraps.
• Make the cookie tops: Cut a star, with the smaller cutter, out of the center of half of all the cookies. Roll the scraps in between two of the pieces of wax paper and cut additional stars, if desired.
• Bake and assemble the cookie sandwiches: Bake the cookies until they are lightly brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the trays from the oven and allow them to cool slightly on the trays for a few minutes before gently transferring them to a flat surface. P
• Place the raspberry jam in a small pot and bring it to a light simmer. Remove from the heat to cool slightly. Spoon 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam on each bottom and place a top star squarely on each. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Pulse pecans with confectioners' sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer pecan mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment.
• Add butter and granulated sugar to bowl with pecan mixture and beat on medium speed until fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla and egg. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture and beat until combined. Divide dough in half. Working with one portion at a time, place dough between two pieces of lightly-floured parchment paper and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. Refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut out rounds with a 2 1/2-inch fluted cutter. Cut out centers of half of rounds with a 1-inch acorn cutter; reroll scraps and cut out more cookies. Arrange cookies 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets once, until pale golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely. (Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)
• Dust acorn-cutout cookies with confectioners' sugar. Spread 1 teaspoon jam on bottom of remaining cookies, then sandwich together. (Filled cookies are best eaten the same day.)

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spread hazelnuts in ungreased shallow baking pan. Bake uncovered about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Rub nuts in a kitchen towel to remove loose skins (some skins may not come off); cool 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off oven.
• In food processor bowl with metal blade, place nuts and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar . Cover; process with about 10 on-and-off pulses, 2 to 3 seconds each, until nuts are finely ground but not oily.
• In small bowl, mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
• In large bowl, beat butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed about 3 minutes or until smooth. Add nut mixture; beat about 1 minute or until mixed. Beat in egg and vanilla. With spoon, stir in flour mixture about 1 minute or just until blended. Shape dough into 2 balls; flatten each ball into a disk. Wrap separately in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 2 hours until firm.
• Heat oven to 425°F. Remove 1 dough disk from refrigerator. On well floured surface, roll dough with floured rolling pin until about 1/8 inch thick. Cut with 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter in desired shape. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts about 1 inch apart.
• Roll and cut other half of dough. Using a 1-inch square or round cutter, cut out the center of half of the cookies. Reroll dough centers and cut out more cookies.
• Bake 4 to 5 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool about 10 minutes.
• Lightly sprinkle powdered sugar over cookies with center cutouts. Or drizzle with powdered sugar icing, and sprinkle with colored sugars or decors. Spread about 1 teaspoon raspberry jam over bottom side of each whole cookie. Top with a cutout cookie. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Mix on low to combine, then raise to medium speed and cream until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix on medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds.
• Scrape the bowl and mix another few seconds. Add the all-purpose flour and almond flour and blend on low until combined. The dough will be very stiff. Once mixed, use your hand to incorporate any remaining flour by pressing and turning the dough around in the bowl.
• Take about half of the dough and roll out between two pieces of parchment to about 1/8 inch thick. Use a light sprinkling of all-purpose flour if the dough sticks to the parchment.
• For the cookie tops, cut out 16 to 18 cookies with a floured 2 3/4-inch heart-shaped cutter and arrange on one of the prepared baking sheets. Cut out the center of each solid heart with a smaller (such as 1 3/4-inch) heart-shaped cutter.
• For the cookie bottoms, gather the scraps and the other half of the dough and reroll. Cut out 16 to 18 more 2 3/4-inch hearts. Leave them solid and arrange on the second prepared baking sheet (see Cook's Note).
• Bake the cookie tops, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking, until golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Bake the solid heart cookie bottoms, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking, until golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the trays before filling.
• Lightly dust the cookie tops with confectioners' sugar and set aside.
• Use a butter knife or small offset spatula to spread 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of jam over each cookie bottom. Carefully add the cookie tops. Place the remaining jam into a resealable plastic bag, snip off the end and pipe a bit into the center of each heart to fill in the space. The sandwich cookies can be store in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and continue mixing until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. In another bowl, combine and mix the flour, almonds, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, blend the flour mixture in with the butter. When the ingredients are fully integrated, place 1/3 of the batter on each piece of waxed paper. Coat dough with a light layer of flour, and top with another piece of waxed paper of the same length to make 3 batter "sandwiches". Place 2 of them in the refrigerator and work with 1 at a time.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Roll the first batch into as neat a shape as possible. What matters most is avoiding creases or cracks and getting it to about 1/8-inch in thickness. When the first is rolled, refrigerate it and repeat the same process for the other 2 pieces of dough.
• Make the cookie bottoms: Remove the first rolled sheet from the refrigerator and cut as many 1 1/2-inch hearts (or rounds). Reserve the scraps in the refrigerator. Arrange them neatly in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with the other two sheets, reserving any scraps.
• Make the cookie tops: Cut a heart, with the smaller cutter, out of the center of half of all the cookies to create a heart outline. Roll the scraps in between 2 pieces of waxed paper and cut additional hearts, if desired.
• Bake the cookies until they are lightly brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the trays from the oven and allow them to cool slightly for a few minutes before gently transferring them to a flat surface. In a small pot, pour in the raspberry jam and bring it to a light simmer. Remove from the heat to cool slightly as well.
• Spoon about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam on each bottom and place a "top" heart on each. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Steps:

• Pulse together flour and almonds in a food processor until the almonds are very finely ground. Add cinnamon, baking powder and salt, and pulse to blend. (Alternatively, whisk together flour, ground almonds or almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.)
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium-high until the mixture is light, fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and beat until everything is well combined, again stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary.
• Add in dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed, just until incorporated.
• Divide dough in 2 equal pieces, and wrap each piece in cling film, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk. Chill at least 2 hours, up to 5 days ahead.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper so it's about 1/8 inch thick. (Because of the almonds, the dough may crack in places while you're rolling it out. This is O.K., just patch it up with scraps.)
• Using a round cookie cutter 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out as many circles as possible. Take half of these circles and cut out a 1-inch circle from the interior of the larger circles, creating a doughnut shape that will become the top of the cookie. If at any point the dough becomes too soft to cut and cleanly remove from parchment paper, slide it onto a cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator. Gather any scraps of dough, combine them and roll them out, chilling as necessary. Transfer dough circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced 1 inch apart and bake until the edges are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
• To assemble the linzer cookies, spread about a teaspoon of raspberry jam onto the flat sides of the larger circles. Dust the tops of the cutout circles with powdered sugar and place on top of raspberry jam.

Steps:

• Mix the flour, 1 tsp cinnamon and the allspice in a large bowl until combined. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the almonds and caster sugar. Drizzle in the egg and mix with a cutlery knife until the dough comes together in large clumps. Using your hands, knead the dough in the bowl until it forms a tight, compact disc. If the dough is still very soft, chill for 15 mins.
• Roll the dough out on a lightly dusted work surface to 5mm thickness. Stamp out 20 x 7cm rounds using a crinkle-edged cookie cutter and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Re-roll the off-cuts and cut out as many more biscuits as you can (you need to end up with an even number). Use a small round or other festive cutter to stamp a circle from the centre of half the biscuits. Chill all the biscuits in the freezer for 20 mins or the fridge for 30 mins until firm.
• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Bake the biscuits for about 10-12 mins, or until lightly golden and sandy to the touch. Leave to cool for 5 mins on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Mix the icing sugar with the rest of the cinnamon and dust this over the cut-out biscuits. Spoon the jam over the whole biscuits and smooth with the back of a spoon. Sandwich these with the icing-sugar-dusted biscuits. Will keep in an airtight container for six days. Best eaten within three days.