8Bit Heart Linzer Cookies
I love cookies, and I love sandwiches, so of course, I’m all about the Linzer cookie, a sandwich cookie inspired by the Linzer torte from Linz, Austria. Both the cookie and torte are filled with fruit preserves or jam and made with flour, ground almonds, butter, sugar, lemon zest, and cinnamon. However, where they differ is that the torte has a lattice crust for a top, and the cookie has a top with a hole cut out, or a “window,” so the jam is visible.
Linzer cookies are usually reserved for the holidays, but I don’t pay attention to when it’s the appropriate time of year to cook something or not. Like I said in my Caponata post, the stomach wants what the stomach wants, so who cares if it’s April and these are Christmas cookies? I know I don’t!
The gang is all here
Traditionally, Linzer cookies are made with black currant, but I usually make mine with raspberry jam or preserves. I’ve also seen people use lingonberry, strawberry, mixed berry, apricot, lemon curd, and even Nutella.
Linzer cookies are shaped using different cookie cutters in several ways, so feel free to get creative with how you prepare them. For example, you can make cookies shaped like hearts, flowers, circles with scalloped edges, animals, etc.
Confession; I was too lazy to make my preserves this time, so I decided to go to the store and purchase a jar of good ol’ reliable Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves. It’s an excellent quality French brand that has 23 different flavors. Specifically, their raspberry preserves are delicious. They aren’t over-the-top seedy, and it’s the perfect balance between sweet and tart that I enjoy.
Mix your wet ingredients first
Then slowly sift in your dry ingredients so that they’re distributed evenly
Tightly wrap the disc shaped dough and store in the refrigerator for one hour
Contrary to what your Neanderthal friend tells you, jelly, jam, and preserves are not the same. Jelly is smooth and made with cooked and strained fruit juice, which means no seeds or fruit chunks are suspended in the gel. Jam is made with crushed fruit and has a pulp-like texture, whereas preserves are chunkier and either encompass the whole fruit or cut up pieces of fruit. While jelly spreads better than jam and jam spreads better than preserves, you wouldn’t use jelly on a Linzer tart because jam and preserves have a more robust fruit flavor, and mmm, that’s that @#$% I like it.
I love eating raw dough, but apparently I’m playing Russian roulette with salmonella soooo
Need an 8bit heart cookie cutter? I bought mine from this listing on Etsy!
When shaping your Linzer cookies, it’s important to note that the bottom cookie is cut with the large cutter, and the top cookie is formed with both the large cutter and the small cutter. At times, when I have attempted to transfer them to a baking sheet, I found that if the dough isn’t cold enough, the top cookies will fall apart as I removed the “window” center. I’ve had to roll the dough out to reshape the cookies again as a result. I think it’s easier to stamp the “windows” into the cookie without removing the cutout, immediately refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes, and then take them out again before popping out the “windows” when the dough is cold and firm.
Chilled dough is always easier to work with and doesn’t stick much to the surface you’re preparing them on, so if you find that the preheated oven is raising the temperature of your kitchen or that it’s simply a hot day outside and the floured surface isn’t doing enough, don’t be afraid to put whatever you have left in the refrigerator for it to firm up again.
All cooled and ready for that powdered sugar blizzard to hit
Use a sifter to break up lumps and to distribute the powdered sugar evenly
Lightly spread a dollop of jam or preserves on the center, and top with the “window” cookies
Don’t forget that the top “window” cookies with their center cut-out will cook faster than those without “windows”. You should bake the two different types of cookies on separate sheets and remove the top cookies earlier, or else you run the risk of burning them. Also, the cookies are crispier fresh out of the oven, so don’t freak out and think you overcooked them unless they’re entirely brown or burnt. The Linzer cookies will get softer overnight as they soak up the jam or preserves, which is why I prefer to make mine in advance, much like a lot of the recipes I feature on this blog.
When it comes time to store your cookies, you can’t go wrong with an air-tight sealed container. Your cookies will stay good for at least 3 or 4 days in one of these, but if you don’t own any, you can use plastic wrap instead and store them on your counter, a box, or in the refrigerator.
Feeling cute, might eat ten cookies later
Cooking Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of almond flour or 1 cup of finely ground almonds, toasted
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 1/4 cups of butter, softened
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of almond extract
1 teaspoon of salt
Zest from 1 lemon
1 cup of raspberry preserves
powdered sugar for dusting
Cooking Instructions
Beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy for around 2-3 minutes
Add in the extract, zest, and egg, beating until well combined for around 30 seconds
Combine the flour, almond flour, ground toasted almonds, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Slowly beat together on low with the other mixture until well combined for around 1 minute. Do NOT over mix
Divide the dough in half and flatten them into two disks about 1 inch thick. Cover tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Let the dough soften outside of the refrigerator for 5 minutes
Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick
Cut out your desired shapes with cookie cutters; half with “windows” in them and the other half without. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat this process with the dough scraps as needed
Refrigerate the cut-outs for 30 minutes
Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the edges golden. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through cooking. Be aware that the tops will cool faster than the bottoms
Remove from the oven and cool the cookies completely on a drying rack
Sift confectioners sugar on the top of the “window” cookies with the 8-bit heart cut-outs
Turn the bottom cookies without the cut-outs flat side up and dollop 1/2 a tablespoon of jam on the center of the cookie. Slightly spreading it
Place the sugar-dusted cut out cookies onto the top and serve
