Best Hazelnut Linzer Bars Recipes

LINZER BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position the rack in the middle of the oven.
• Spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Turn oven off since you will not need it on again for at least 45 minutes. Empty nuts onto a folded towel, enclosing them between the folds, and rub them to remove their skins. Transfer the nuts to a strainer and carefully discard the skins. Allow nuts to cool to room temperature.
• Put the hazelnuts in a food processor fitted with the stainless-steel blade and pulse a few times. Add cake flour and process until the nuts are finely ground. Set aside.
• In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and lemon zest on medium speed until light and creamy. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Over medium speed, add the egg and continue mixing for 1 more minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the hazelnut-flour mixture, and continue mixing until well blended into a smooth dough.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions, with 1 portion about 8 ounces or 1/3 of the dough. Transfer to a medium pastry bag fitted with a number 1 plain tip and set aside. With the remaining 2/3 of the dough (about 20 ounces), form into a 1-inch flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• With a marking pen, trace a 16 by 13-inch rectangle shape on parchment paper. Place paper, marked side down, onto a baking sheet. With the reserved dough in the pastry bag, pipe straight parallel lines, about 1-inch apart, inside the marked rectangle. Then pipe a second set of parallel lines at a 45 degree angle to the first set of lines to make a trellis shape. Refrigerate until needed (dough should be well chilled before using).
• With more cake flour, lightly dust a pastry board or work surface with flour. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a rectangular shape, about 15 by 12 inches by 1/4-inch thick. Transfer dough to a parchment lined baking sheet and trim any excess dough to make an even rectangle. Bake for 20 minutes, or until dough starts to color. Remove baking sheet from the oven and transfer to a rack. Leave oven on. Allow dough to cool for at least 10 minutes.
• Spread raspberry jam over the entire surface of the cooled dough. Carefully place the refrigerated trellis-shaped dough over the jam. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden in color. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Trim edges and then cut into 3 by 1-inch bars. Lightly dust bars with powdered sugar.

RASPBERRY LINZER BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and lemon zest. In another bowl, mix flour, ground almonds and cinnamon; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Press 2 cups dough onto bottom of a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Spread with preserves to within 1/2 in. of edges. Crumble remaining dough over preserves., Bake until lightly browned, 35-40 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. If desired, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Cut into bars.

LINZER CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Pulse the hazelnuts and 1/8 cup granulated sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and cloves.
• Beat the butter and the remaining 1/8 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and lemon zest. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Divide the dough in half, flatten each half into a 5-inch disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
• Roll out each disk of dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper to 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut out stars or trees using a 2-inch cookie cutter and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Cut out the centers of half of the cookies using smaller cutters. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Reroll the scraps just once and repeat. (Refrigerate the dough if it gets too soft.)
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack.
• Dust the cutout cookies generously with confectioners' sugar. Spread about 1 teaspoon preserves on the underside of each whole cookie, then sandwich with the cutout cookies. Store in an airtight container up to 3 days.

HAZELNUT BARS

Steps:

• Grind 1 cup hazelnuts in a food processor. Knead into half of a 16.5-ounce package refrigerated sugar cookie dough. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface and cut into small rectangles. Transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake at 350 degrees F until golden, 15 minutes; let cool. Serve with chocolate-hazelnut spread for dipping.

HAZELNUT LINZER TORTE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roast the hazelnuts until they smell toasty. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Rub off the skins and cool the nuts another 15 minutes.
• In a food processor grind the nuts with the sugar until finely ground but not pasty. With your hands work in the butter, flour and chocolate together. Add the eggs, one at a time. You just need the egg to hold the dough together; you may need only 1.
• Butter a 13 1/2 x 5 x 2 1/2 inch deep meatloaf pan. Spread about 2/3 of dough in the bottom and up the sides of the pan, spread the jam in the middle and top with more dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 5 minutes more, then reduce heat to 300 and bake for 1 hour longer or 1 1/4 hours in all. To test insert a cake tester in dough and it should come out dry. Can be made days ahead of time.