Linzer cookies: my most recent discovery for yet another way to fill my life with jammy-almond shortbread-ish cookies. They are delicate, buttery, and dusted with powdered sugar like a Christmas village. Too often Linzer tart cookies are dry and crunchy. But this recipe is oh-so-tender, delicate, and bursting with buttery-almond flavor. And that’s before we smash them together with jam! The perfect addition to a tea party, Christmas or Valentine’s Day plate!
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I have a pretty bad track record with boys’ haircuts. As in, I have absolutely zero skills in this area of life, and also hate spending money on it. But sometimes when things get desperate, I have to take matters into my own hands.
When my children are subject to a hair cut by yours truly, it erases any possibility of them being mistaken as “the cool kid” for a solid two weeks while the atrocity grows itself into something less-outrageous.
I recently hoisted Edison up on the counter for a cuttin, when I noticed I couldn’t find his eyes anymore. It took just a minute and then I went off to finish dinner.
Later when I rang the dinner bell, we couldn’t find him. That’s when we realized that he utterly refused to come downstairs. We could see him cowering on the landing in shame. YOU RUINED MY HAIR he screamed, with the melodrama that only a 4-year-old can muster. This, coming from a kid who routinely wears his underwear backwards, and loves to sport yesterday’s outfit, spilled lunch and all. Evidently my appalling haircuts are where he draws the line.
In other news…Happy Halloween my friends!! I’m here with Christmas cookies for you! (Are you confused because today is Halloween? Try to keep up. 😂) Okay fine, I’m a mini amount of sorry about this.
But I am SO excited for the holidays this year, I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve been working ahead to get my new Christmas recipes to you before the big day (big month? big quarter? Let’s not forget the Filipino mantra, any month that ends in a “ber” is a Christmas month…words to live by, my friends)
So, let’s dive in. Have you ever heard of Linzer cookies?
What are Linzer cookies?
Linzer cookies are a buttery sandwich cookie filled with jam and lightly dusted with powdered sugar. The top cookie has a hole cut in it so you can see the jam peeking out. I’m a little obsessed.
Aren’t they adorable? They look SO impressive stacked up on a plate. These cookies are from Austria originally, based on a full-pie-size tart called a Linzertorte.
The biggest difference between regular butter or shortbread cookies and Linzer is that there is almond flour called for in the dough, which brings an absolutely delightful texture and flavor. Like I mentioned, I am the biggest sucker for the almond-shortbread flavor combined with jam. If you MADE me pick my favorite Christmas cookie of all time, it might be these Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies, and Linzer Cookies have the same flavor profile. (They might be my new favorite??)
Linzer cookies are traditional at Christmas time, and I’m obsessed with my tiny baby 1-inch Christmas trees. But with the right cut-outs in the center you could adapt these for any occasion. Like hearts for Valentine’s Day:
And the other fun thing you can switch up is what flavor of jam you are using. I love raspberry or blackberry jam for cookies like this usually, but check out at how amazing these look with apricot preserves!!
These look absolutely sunshine-y, right? Perfect for any time of year. You can’t usually find apricot jam that is smooth and doesn’t have pieces of fruit in it. So I pressed the preserves through a strainer to make a smooth jam, then spread them on the cookies.
Ingredients you’ll need
Here’s a quick glance at what you’ll need to make this! The full recipe is at the bottom, scroll down.
- butter
- brown sugar
- powdered sugar
- egg yolks
- blanched almond flour
- all purpose flour
- kosher salt
- vanilla and almond extract
- seedless jam (raspberry jam is my favorite, but you can use any kind you want!)
How to make Linzer cookies
Just as for any decent cookie, we’re starting off with some butter and sugar. Beat it together for a few minutes to make sure it gets nice and creamy. This recipe uses powdered sugar to get that delicate, melt in your mouth texture, and some untraditional brown sugar, which brings in some flavor and moisture.
Add in some almond extract, the key flavor for these cookies! Then add in a couple large egg yolks. Using just the yolks gives us all the flavor and binding we need, and none of the rising properties of the whites. These cookies don’t need to rise much, we want them nice and thin. (The better to eat a dozen at a time..)
Add in the regular flour and the almond flour. I experimented with sifting the almond flour, because it’s so gritty, but didn’t notice a difference. The cookies bake up just fine with no sifting. Which is nice because it was actually super annoying to get all that almond flour through the sifter!!
Divide the dough on two sheets of plastic wrap and then wrap each one up into a little disc. (I just lost my mind going down the rabbit hole of whether a disc of dough like this is spelled disk or disc and I still can’t figure it out. 😂 ) Chill the discks for an hour or two in the refrigerator, until firm.
Let the dough rest out of the fridge for a hot minute so that it’s easier to roll, then use a rolling pin to roll the dough out pretty thin, like 1/8 inch thin. Can you see in the photos, how thin it should be? Don’t make these cookies too thick, or they won’t be tender.
Now it’s time to cut the dough! Here is the rough size of cookie cutters you need, to get a visual.
Use a 2-inch cookie cutter to cut as many circles as you can. (Next time I want to try these fluted cookie cutters, wouldn’t that be so cute?)
Then, use a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut out the centers of HALF of the cookies. Don’t do all of them! Or you won’t have any whole bottom-cookies to make a sandwich with. And all the jam would fall out. You’re no fool.
Place the shaped cookies on the pan, you can put them pretty close together. Toss them in the freezer or fridge for a few minutes if you have the space! COLD dough going into a HOT oven is a huge part of what makes these cookies tender and flaky, instead of tough. If you can’t make room to chill the cookies once cut, then just hurry your butt up and get them in the oven!
These cookies only bake for about 5-6 minutes. Don’t over do it!!
Once they are completely cooled, add the jam on the whole cookies. You can use any kind of jam that you like! It’s helpful to stir it up in a bowl before adding to the cookies, so the jam goes on smooth. Black current jam is traditional in Austria, but tougher to find here! Strawberry jam is a favorite with my kids. Lemon curd would also be an AMAZING filling idea. Other options…Nutella? Biscoff? I mean, right??
Use a strainer to dust the tops of the cookies (the ones with the center cut out) with powdered sugar.
I think it would be so fun to mix a little cinnamon or cardamom into your powdered sugar before dusting the cookies (but it would mute the almond flavor) So many options!
Then, smash!
Just look at these beauties. What neighbor would not be totally floored to receive this as a Christmas treat??
Storing Linzer cookies
Keep your Linzer cookies on the counter for 4-5 days. If you’d like to freeze them, the best method is to freeze the cookies themselves with no jam or powdered sugar. If you do want to freeze the cookies with the jam in them, place them flat between layers of parchment paper. Definitely dust with powdered sugar after you defrost them so the sugar doesn’t melt into the cookies!
Linzer cookies FAQs
No, Linzer cookies don’t need to refrigerated. You can keep them in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week. If you’d like the cookies to stay crisp, I recommend filling them with jam right before serving them. In that case, you’d refrigerate the jam or jelly (as usual) and then add it to the room temperature cookies.
Linzer cookies are a buttery cookie made with regular all purpose flour and almond flour. They’re dusted with powdered sugar and filled with the jam!
Linzer cookies are Austrian-American. They’re a cute little version of a Linzer torte, an almond crust pie filled with jam. Austrian immigrants made tiny versions of the pie when they came to the United States, because they understood the assignment: everything is better mini. (Which means I can eat 5 in a row, right?)
More cookies you’ll love!
Coooookies. Good for the soul! Here are some special treats way beyond chocolate chip (not that I’m above chocolate chip any night of the week).
- Salted Caramel Sandwich Cookies >> talk about decadent, the homemade caramel is soooo fudgy
- Grandma Prudy’s Spritz Cookies >> buttery little morsels of heaven, a family tradition
- Thumbprint Almond Raspberry Cookies >> did you make these growing up?? My favvv
- Mexican Wedding Cookies >> no matter what you call these, they’re a buttery bite of perfection
- Biscotti For People Who Thought They Hated Biscotti >> delightfully snappy, and the perfect dipper for cocoa or coffee
- Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies >> I keep Hershey’s kisses in my freezer year round to make these anytime, no joke
- My All-Time-Favorite Shortbread Cookies >> don’t overlook these classic cookies – they have the perfect melt-in-your-mouth texture
- Thick and Soft Sugar Cookies >> beautifully soft, perfect for adding tons of buttercream or royal icing
- Swedish Sour Cream Twists >> the perfect dipper for your coffee or hot chocolate!
- Nutella Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies >> if you haven’t tried this combo, it’s TIME
- Austrian Vanilla Crescent Cookies from Daring Gourmet
- Pfeffernusse Cookies from If You Give a Blonde a Kitchen
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Perfect Linzer Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar, plus more for cookie tops
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 and 1/4 cup blanched almond flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup seedless jam, any flavor, for sandwiching
Instructions
- Make the dough: In a large bowl or stand mixer, add 1 cup slightly softened butter. Beat until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once.
- Add 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar. Beat again for about 3 minutes, until light in color and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once halfway through.
- Add 2 egg yolks, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons almond extract, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and beat again until everything is incorporated, scraping down the sides.
- Use the spoon-and-level method (spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level off the top) to add 2 cups of all purpose flour to the bowl. Don't stir it in yet.
- Spoon and level 1 and 1/4 cups almond flour into the bowl, still no stirring.
- Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt to the flours, and gently stir it into the flour and almond flour with a small spoon (this is to make sure we don't get any pockets of salt.) If you only have table salt, use half the amount.
- Use the mixer to blend the wet and dry ingredients, just until combined. Do NOT over mix! Once you have stopped to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and you don't see any more streaks of white flour, stop the mixer. Over-mixing cookie dough makes the cookies tough.
- Chill the dough: Lay out 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. Divide the dough between the sheets, scraping it all out of the bowl. Pat each dough into a disc using the ends of the plastic wrap, then wrap each disc. Put the 2 discs in the fridge and chill for about 1-2 hours, until the dough is firm.
- Take the discs out of the fridge and let them rest on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften a bit.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll out the dough: On a pastry cloth or an extra large silpat, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough very thin, to about 1/8 of an inch. See photos! If you are rolling out on a countertop, dust your work surface with flour but use as little as possible so as to not dry out the dough. Another method is to roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper.
- Use cookie cutters. Working quickly so the dough is as cold as possible, use a 2-inch round cookie cutter or 2-inch fluted cookie cutter to cut as many circles as you can from the dough you have rolled out.
- Cut out centers of HALF the circles. With a smaller, 1-inch cookie cutter (of a Christmas tree, circle, or heart), cut out the centers of HALF of the larger circles. Don't cut all of them! You need a "bottom" for each cookie, that doesn't have a hole in it. (Reserve the cut-out-centers to bake separately into tiny cookies, if you like. But I usually just re-roll them with the remaining dough.)
- Use a small spatula to transfer the cut dough onto the lined baking sheets. You only need to leave about an inch of space between cookies; they don't rise or spread much at all.
- Chill the dough again. If possible, chill each pan of cookies in the fridge or freezer for 5-15 minutes, until the cut out dough is completely chilled again. COLD dough going into a HOT oven is an important part of the magic of what makes these cookies tender and flaky, not tough.
- Gather up the scraps of dough and mound them into a new disc again. Wrap them up and chill them until they are firm enough to roll. Repeat the cutting process with all the remaining dough.
- Bake the COLD cookies at 350 for about 5-6 minutes. They should no longer be shiny on top, but they shouldn't be getting brown on the edges either. Do NOT over bake, or they will be too crunchy.
- Take them out of the oven and let them set up on the pan for a couple minutes before transferring them on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Dust the cut-out tops with powdered sugar. Lay your cut-out cookie tops on a separate baking sheet or piece of parchment paper. Add powdered sugar to a mini strainer, and gently sprinkle the cut-outs with powdered sugar so they are completely dusted.
- Add about 1/2 cup seedless jam to a small bowl. You can eyeball this, no need to bust out a measuring cup. Stir the jam with a spoon until it is smooth.
- Fill with jam. Add a little more than a teaspoon of jam to the top of the whole-circle cookies. Add a powdered sugar cookie top to each circle cookie spread with jam, and gently press them together. Aren't they so cute?? Try not to eat them all immediately, just wait until you stack them all on a plate. So pretty.
- Storage: Store these cookies in an airtight container on the counter. If you don't plan to eat all the cookies right away, wait until the last minute to fill the cookies with jam.
