Eggless Linzer Cookies

Christmas is around the corner and I am in my full-on baking mode. Days are short and nights are long and I am into eating and Netflix watching binge over the weekends and I am loving every bit of it. I am definitely gathering all the holiday calories possible and will have to kill myself in the New Year with a lot of exercises. But I am not thinking about anything and making my favorite Christmas Butter Cookies, Biscotti, Brownies, Hot Chocolate, Mulled Wine, and what not!

These Eggless Linzer cookies are definitely a house favorite both from their aesthetic appeal and how easy it is to bake them. Linzer cookies are cookie sandwiches where the jam is sandwiched between two pieces of cookies and an eye is cut out from the cookie on top so that the jam is visible. These cookies originated from the town of Linz in Austria where they would use Linzertorte dough to make these small cookies and cut different shapes out of them. This cookie has a nice mix of almond flour and regular dough giving them an incredible light flavor which I absolutely adore.

VARIATIONS:

1. Almond Essence: Traditionally almond essence is used to give a nice almond flavor but I have used Almond oil since I didn’t have Almond extract. Don’t think it made a difference in the flavor.
2. Almond Flour: For clean perfect white cookies, you can blanch the almonds (in hot water), peel and toast them, and then grind them to make almond flour. Since I was slightly pressed for time, I made almond flour by directly grinding almonds.
3. Sugar: I use Icing sugar for this recipe, as I feel it gives a lovely lightness to this recipe. Feel free to powder regular white sugar for it.
4. Jam: Love using tart fruit jams like Raspberry or Orange Jam or Lemon Marmalade for this recipe which gives a gorgeous balance to the sweet cookies. If you are using a sweet base jam like strawberry or apple jam, then you can adjust the quantity of sugar in the cookies accordingly.
5. Shapes: I have used a big round cookie cutter for the outer shape and a heart-shaped center. But feel free to go creative and use heart, flower, or any other cookie shapes of choice.

Sharing this easy peasy recipe, hope it becomes a Christmas regular at your household too.

PREPARATION TIME: 75 minutes
COOKING TIME: 20 minutes
SERVINGS: 10 cookies
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

INGREDIENTS: 

1. All-purpose flour – 1 cup
2. Almond flour – ½ cup
3. White/Icing Sugar – ¼ cup (2 tablespoons for dusting)
4. Butter – ½ cup (at room temperature)
5. Almond oil – 1 tablespoon (1 tsp if you are using almond extract)
6. Cinnamon Powder – ½ teaspoon
7. Raspberry Jam – 2 tablespoons
8. Salt – a pinch

UTENSILS/EQUIPMENT:

1. Cookie Cutter
2. Microwave Safe Tray
3. Baking Paper
4. Whisk
5. OTG or Microwave Oven

RECIPE:

Preparing the Cookie Dough –

1. Grind 1/2 cup almonds to a fine powder. Alternatively, you can blanch them and make a smooth almond flour after peeling and drying them.
2. Add this almond flour to a cup of all-purpose flour (or Maida). Along with that add cinnamon powder and salt.
3. Take about 1/2 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature and mix icing sugar in it. Whisk it with your hands for 3-4 minutes until it turns light and fluffy. Once the sugar is dissolved with butter, add a little almond oil or extract and mix well.

4. Add the dry ingredients to this butter-sugar mix and try to bring it all together with light hands. Don’t knead and overdo the dough.
5. Wrap it with a kitchen towel or clingfilm and keep it in the refrigerator to chill for an hour or so. This will solidify the butter and give you a nice dough to work with.
6. Take out the dough and let it rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Creating the Cookies –

7. Now take a piece of baking paper and place your dough on it. Start rolling the dough to get reach at a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
8. Take a big round cookie shaped cookie cutter on the flattened dough and place a smaller heart in between. Cut the cookie shapes carefully and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.  Do this very carefully as the cookies are thin and fragile, especially the upper ones with a cut-out shape.
9. Cut out a similar number of round circles for the lower part of the Linzer cookie sandwich.

10. Repeat the step to use all the leftover dough and make as many cookies as possible. If the dough becomes really soft with all the working, chill it again for about 10 minutes and then use it.
11. Place the cookies in a refrigerator for about 5-7 minutes. At the same time, preheat the OTG/oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
12. Take out the cookies and place the cut-out patterns first at 180 degrees for 12-13 minutes. Take them out once done and keep them aside for 5-7 minutes to cool. Dust them with some icing sugar.

13. Now place the lower disc-shaped round cookies and cook them for 15-17 minutes at 180 degrees. Allow them to cool too.
14. Now place a little bit of jam on the round cookies and pick the upper cut-out cookies and place them carefully on top.

Eggless Linzer cookies are ready. Enjoy them with your family over Christmas!