Linzer sandwich cookies

5
Points®
Total Time
43 min
Prep
35 min
Cook
8 min
Serves
24
Difficulty
Moderate
These sandwich cookies are both delightful to eat and pretty to look at. They are often made around the holidays, but they can certainly be enjoyed all year long to suit any occasion. Chilling the dough is an important step as it makes for cleaner cuts and easier handling. Almonds are traditional for Linzer cookies, but we opted for hazelnuts to lend this cookie the necessary nuttiness. This recipe is open to lots of additional personalization. Use a 1-inch cookie cutter in whatever shape that you like. Also, we’ve called for apricot jam, but you can use any flavor or color—or mix of colors—that you like.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour

2 cup(s)

Baking powder

1 tsp

Ground cinnamon

1 tsp

Table salt

¼ tsp

Sugar

¾ cup(s)

Unsalted butter

3 Tbsp, softened

Canola oil

2 Tbsp

Lemon zest

1 tsp, grated

Egg

1 large egg(s)

Vanilla extract

1 tsp

Unsalted dry-roasted hazelnuts

2 oz, toasted, skinned, and chopped (1/4 cup)

Apricot jam

½ cup(s), or boysenberry or raspberry fruit spread

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat the sugar, butter, oil, and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Roll out each portion of dough between sheets of wax paper to 1⁄8-inch thickness. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
  2. Meanwhile, place the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray.
  3. Working with 1 sheet of dough (keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator), peel off the top sheet of wax paper, then place it back on the dough. Flip the dough over; remove the top sheet of wax paper. With a 2 1⁄2-inch scalloped or round cookie cutter, cut out rounds from the dough. With a spatula, transfer the rounds to a baking sheet about 1 inch apart. If the dough becomes too soft to work with, return to refrigerator until firm. With a 1-inch round cookie cutter, cut out and remove the centers from half of the dough rounds. Reserve all the dough scraps. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator. Repeat with the remaining dough and dough scraps.
  4. Lightly brush the cookies with the cutout centers with water and sprinkle evenly with the hazelnuts. Bake the cookies until firm and lightly browned along the edges, 6 – 8 minutes for the cookies with the cutout centers and 8 – 10 minutes for the solid cookies, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking. With a spatula, transfer the cookies to racks and let cool completely. Brush the solid cookies with the fruit spread and top with the cutout cookies, making a total of 24 cookies. Yields 1 cookie per serving.