Best Linzer Torte Cookies Recipes

LINZER TORTE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 11x7 inch baking pan.
• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and lemon peel. In another bowl, stir together the flour, almonds, cinnamon and cloves. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. The dough will be stiff, so you may need to knead it by hand to get it to come together. Press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
• Press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the preserves over the crust. On a lightly floured surface, roll the remaining dough into long rope about 1/2 inch in diameter. Place lengths of the rope across the top of the jam in a lattice pattern over the preserves.
• Bake 40 minutes or until top is golden. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 2 inch by 1inch bars.

CRANBERRY-GINGER LINZER TORTE COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine cranberries, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, water, ginger, and salt for filling in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Lower heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until cranberries burst. Continue cooking, mashing fruit a bit with the back of a spoon, until thick as jam, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat to cool completely. Can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
• Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, and salt for cookies together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Mix butter and white sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until just combined. Add the vanilla. Gradually add in flour mixture on low speed just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough ¼-inch thick and cut into 2-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round into a desired shape. Place all cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.
• While cookies chill, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges just begin to brown or the cookies are crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven; let cookies cool for 1 minute on the pan, then remove to a wire rack and allow to cool completely, 15 to 20 minutes.
• When the cookies have cooled, place 1 teaspoon of filling on the flat side of each whole cookie, spreading it out to the edges with the back of the spoon. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar. Place the sugared tops on the filled bottoms.

LINZER TORTE COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• 2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and lemon peel. In another bowl, stir together the flour,nut flour, cinnamon and cloves. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. The dough will be stiff, so you may need to knead it by hand to get it to come together.
• 3. Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into rounds using a cookie cutter. Place cookies onto a cookie sheet spaced 2 inches apart. Count your rounds and use a small cookie cutter to cut the center out of half of the cookies. This can be done while the other half of the cookies bakes. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm and lightly browned at the edges. Allow cookies to cool completely. Spread jam on the tops of the solid cookies and top with the cookies that have shapes cut out.

LINZER TORTE COOKIES RECIPE - (4.7/5)

Steps:

• Make base: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter two 9-inch round layer cake pans (preferably with removable bottoms if you plan to serve this in wedges, like a cake), two 8-inch square pans (what I used, then cut each into square bars, like cookies), one 9×13-inch rectangular pan (again, for bar cookies) or one 11- to 12-inch round cake pan (again ideally with a removable bottom). Line the bottom of each with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit, then butter then paper. In a food processor, process walnuts and 1/2 cup of the flour (reserve remaining 2 1/2 cups for next step) for 15 seconds, or until the nuts are finely ground but have not formed a paste. Place remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a large, wide-ish mixing bowl. With a pastry blender, work the butter into the dry mixture until it forms coarse crumbs. Stir in the sugar and walnut-flour mixture. In a small dish, beat the whole egg, yolk, and lemon rind utnil combined, and stir into crumb mixture. Stir the mixture in as best as you can with a spoon, then work the rest in with your hands. Knead the dough a few times inside the bowl until a cohesive mass, one that holds together, forms. Divide dough into quarters if making two tortes, or halves if making one. Place one portion into the bottom of each pan, and press evenly and firmly over the bottoms and then about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches up the sides with your fingers. Don't worry about making it smooth or level on the sides; it gets filled in later. Bake shell(s) for 15 minutes, or until it barely begins to color at the edges. While the shell(s) bakes, roll remaining piece(s) of dough between two pieces of waxed paper, until 1/4- to 3/8-inch in thickness one inch bigger than your pan size. [I.e., for each 9-inch round torte, you'll want a 10-inch diameter circle; for each 8-inch square torte, a 9-inch square, etc.] Transfer to freezer until the dough is well-chilled, about 20 minutes. Remove shell(s) from oven and let cool slightly; reduce baking temperature to 350 degrees. Make filling: If you're using panko or another coarse dry breadcrumb, you can pulse it in a food processor until it is fine powder. I found I needed almost double the volume in panko (7 tablespoons) to yield 1/4 cup of a fine breadcrumb powder. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons finely ground breadcrumbs over each par-baked shell, or all 1/4 cup over your single large one. If jam is not already soft, stir it until it is, then spread 1 cup over each shell. Cut dough(s) into 1/2- to 3/4-inch wide strips, cutting through the bottom of the waxed paper at the same time. Lift each strip-and-waxed paper over the jam and reverse it onto the jam, then peel off waxed paper. Cut the ends of the dough by pressing them onto the sides of the pan. Arrange strips 1/2- to 3/4-inch apart, crisscrossing them on an angle to make a lattice top with diamond-shaped openings. [Note: I neither "wove" my lattice or ended up making "diamond-shaped" openings. Oops.] Use leftover pieces to fill in any gaps between lattice-strips and tall sides of shells. The two doughs will blend together in the oven. To finish: Mix egg yolks and water. Brush it all over lattice top and border. Sprinkle with almonds, if using. (I prefer to use 1/3 cup per smaller torte, instead of the 1/2 cup Heatter recommends. I only sprinkled them on one.) Bake torte(s) for 45 to 60 minutes (Heatter recommends 60, I find it perfect, but ovens and baking pans vary, check yours sooner if you're nervous), until crust and almonds on top are well-browned. Remove from oven and place on racks. If you've baked it in a cake pan and wish to serve it as a "cake," i.e. in wedges, Heatter recommends that you remove it from the pan while still warm by cutting around the torte carefully (the crust is very fragile) with a small, sharp knife and loosening the torte in the pan, before reversing it onto a cooling rack, and then back again onto another rack to finish cooling. If using a pan with a removable base, you should safely be able to remove it once it has fully cooled. Personally, I had no trouble letting my cool fully in the square pan but the first square did not come out cleanly. Once fully cool, Heatter recommends you let the tortes stand overnight (covered with foil) before serving for best flavor. You can decorate the tortes with powdered sugar before serving in wedges or squares.