Linzer Cookies

Ok,brace yourselves for one fancy cookie recipe!

 

If you`ve never heard the word Linzer before, chances are you have absolutely no clue about what it means, right? According to the glorious Internet, it comes from the name Linz, which is a city in Austria. And another thing you should know:

 

                       " Anything Linzer is delicious. "

Who said that? Me, of course! 

 

This recipe is really versatile. You can put any nuts you like, fill it with whatever you like (although I don`t know why somebody would skip on raspberry jam!) and top it with whatever your heart desires.

In my case, I added about 1 cup of toasted, ground walnuts. Yes, 1 cup! Of course, you can use less, about 1/2 cup if you want the nutty flavor to be more subtile, but, again, why would you want to skip on the good stuff is beyond my knowledge. Ok, let`s proceed...

Another thing I want to point out is that you should not knead the dough too much. If you want a tender, crumbly and slightly flakey cookie, you`ll listen to me. And by the way, while kneading, don`t add too much flour either. You want to keep the dough slightly softer than a normal cut-out cookie, ok?

 

Ingredients:

250 gr softened butter *room temp.

250 gr granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

zest of 1/2 lime

1 egg and 1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

370 to 400 gr white,all purpose flour

As much fruit jam as you need to sandwhich your cookies

Directions:



1. In a large, metallic bowl, mix on high speed the butter and the sugar for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the egg, incorporate it well and add the egg yolk, doing the same thing. Lastly, beat in the vanilla and lime zest. Mix on high for 2 more minutes.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. These are your dry ingredients.

3. With the mixer running on low, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, beating after each addition so the flour gets well incorporated.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap/cling film and let the dough rest in the fridge for aproximately 1 hour or up to overnight. This step is important, so please don`t skip it!

5. After such time, on a clean, preferably wooden surface, sprinkle a good amount of flour and roll out 1/4 of your dough, dusting your rolling pin and the surface with more flour if necessary. You`ll need a lot of patience for this step, as the dough breaks apart very easily. Roll out 1/4 of a cm (o,25 cm) thick and cut the desired shapes.

6. Using a spatula or a large knife, carefully remove the shapes from the working board and arrange it on a greased cookie sheet. Preheat your oven to 160 C/350 d F/ Gas lvl.3 and bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes or until they get a bit crispy and golden brown. Leave the cookies to cool in the pan, then remove them to a platter.

7. Sandwich the cookies with about 1 teaspoon of jam, more or less if you like, then dust with powdered sugar or top them with whatever you like. They last up to 9 days if stored in the fridge in an airtight container.