Linzer Cookies

Making cookies this time of the year can be stressful. So many different cookie types of make and coordinating your baking so you don't make the cookies too far ahead of when you're going to be giving them.
This is why I love cookies like these Linzer Cookies. They are so pretty and you can cut them out in any shapes you like, cut a decorative hole ( or two) out of the center, fill, sprinkle with powdered sugar and you're finished!
Now I know I've made that whole process seem like it takes no time at all..but with planning, you can prepare the dough ahead of time and just cut them out when you're ready.

Linzer cookies can be made with almonds, as these are, or you can use hazelnuts or even pecans. It just depends on which nut you prefer. You can also vary the filling, using..how about a chocolate filling with hazelnuts or even switching out the raspberry jam for another flavor.
This particular recipe uses cake flour which makes these cookies a bit more delicate.
Anyway you make them, one thing's for sure, they're delicious.
If I could give you one tip to making these, it would be to roll these cookies out thinly. Between 1/8" and 1/4" is perfect, in my opinion. Because the cookie is sandwiched, you're going to have two cookies stacked and you want them to be fairly delicate and light. If they're too thick, then it looses that nice light flaky quality. ( Did any of that make sense?!)
Whisk your dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then set it aside for a minute.

In a mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar til light and fluffy.

In a small bowl, place the egg, yolk, lemon zest and vanilla.

Grind the nuts with a little bit of your sugar in the food processor to make them fine.

Add the egg mixture to the creamed butter mixture and beat well.

Then add the nuts and mix well.

Then add the flour mixture, adding in small batches til combined.

Place half the dough onto plastic wrap...

And roll to the 1/8" - 1/4" thickness, between 2 pieces of plastic wrap.

Chill the dough for an hour or two. Then at this point, you can just keep it in the fridge, covered well, til you need it or cut out your shapes ( half with a decorative center cut out).

Preheat the oven to 350 and place the cut out shapes about 2" apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake, then cool completely on wire racks before filling.

Place about one teaspoonful of jam onto each cookie bottom, then top with the other cookie with the cut out center.

Once you've sandwiched the two cookies, take a little more jam and place in the cut out section just to make it look more full and prettier!

Then dust with powdered sugar. You can pop them back into the fridge to help them set a bit.

Linzer Cookies (from "Culinaryinthedesert")

3 1/3 cups very finely ground almonds ( or other nut you'd like)( Also I toasted mine before grinding to bring out more flavor)

3 1/3 cups unsifted cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg ( freshly ground is best)

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter-softened
1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp. lemon zest

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Raspberry jam or Nutella (or another flavor you'd prefer)
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
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1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In a mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar til light and fluffy.
3. Place the egg, yolk, zest and vanilla in a small bowl, then add to the creamed mixture and beat well.

4. Blend in the ground nuts.

5. Add the flour mixture, one cup at a time beating til just combined. (Scrape the bowl on the sides and bottom from time to time to be sure to get all the dough incorporated.)

6. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and place on plastic wrap. Roll each between 2 pieces of wrap to 1/8" to 1/4" thickness. Chill dough for 1 to 2 hours. Or wrap well to bake at a later time.

7. Preheat oven to 350 and cut out shapes from the cold dough, placing cookies on baking sheets back in fridge if they get too soft or your oven's not up to temp. yet.

8. Bake approx. 12 minutes, or til edges are golden.

9. Once the cookies have cooled completely, spread a teaspoonful ( depending on the size of your cookie) of filling onto the bottom cookie. Then layer with the other cookie and fill a little bit of filling into the center space. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

I'd store these cookies in a tin or in the fridge, covered well or in a zip lock bag.

Sandwich Cookies...One Retro, One Contempo!

Ok, first I feel the need to explain my last post ! Our local newspaper was having a Julie/Julia contest, which, for some crazy insane reason, I felt driven to enter!! Like I don't have enough to do! We had to choose a recipe from one of her first 4 cookbooks , make it and submit it in a blog form, so I chose the gnocchi. Anyway, needless to say, my entry was either disqualified( I am not technically an amateur cook, as the rules stated, but I do "make a living" as a baker...I guess you could call it"a living"!! I mean, cook and baker are 2 different things, aren't they?? Or they just plain hated my recipe choice! Well anyhoo, I did it and I'm proud of the results...but I'd never ever make it again. Ok, enough explaining! Oh yes, one more thing...because I haven't posted anything for a while, I thought I'd include 2 recipes today. You know, kind of making up for lost time!!

So on to the cookies...
I was in my local library quite a few months ago, maybe even close to a year ago by now and I was looking through the magazines when I came upon a magazine entitled " Hallmark". I'd never heard of it,( which doesn't mean much as it's probably been around for years) and they were featuring cookie recipes that some readers remembered growing up. This one for a cookie called " Double Crunchers" looked very good so I photo copied the recipe, went home and made it. I decided, for whatever reason then, to swap out the chocolate filling for Nutella and this cookie became one of my favorites...along with everyone else who tried them!! Nutella is soo good!! I love the flavor of hazelnut and chocolate together and it just works so well in this cookie.
I searched everywhere in my recipe file for the original photo copied recipe from that day and...do you think I could find it?? NO!! So as I was looking through a 12th Grand National Pillsbury Bake-Off Cookbook I had in my piles of cookbooks, there is was! And, here it is !!

Double Crunchers with Nutella Filling

This next sandwich cookie recipe is from an older issue ( June 2006) issue of Martha Stewart's Magazine ( my thrift shops come through again!) This recipe is entitled " Lemon-Apricot Sandwiches". I should always remember that any shortbread cookie made with cornstarch or powdered sugar is going to come out much softer and way more crumbly than a shortbread cookie made with white granulated sugar. This one was no exception!! I just didn't like the softness of it. The flavor was nice but I thought the apricot jam overpowered the lemon flavor in the cookie. Biting into it, it all fell apart. This one didn't make me happy!! But give it a try...maybe you like a soft shortbread cookie?!

Lemon-Apricot Sandwich Cookie

Double Crunchers with Nutella Filling

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift: 1 cup AP flour, 1/2 tsp. soda, 1/4 tsp. salt. Set aside.

Mix in mixer with paddle attachment: 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar( I used light), 1/2 cup sugar,1/2 cup shortening. ( yeah I know!). Cream well.

Blend in: 1 egg , 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Mix well.

Add dry and mix thoroughly. Stir in 1 cup corn flakes, crushed( 1 cup measured before crushing).. 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats, 1/2 cup coconut.

Shape into balls. Place on greased cookie sheets( I experimented with one greased sheet and one sheet w/ parchment paper. The parchment worked out much better.) Flatten each cookie with fingers to about 3/8" thick.

Bake 8 - 10 minutes. (Mine took a few minutes longer).

When cooled, spread one cookie with filling and top with another cookie.