Holiday Linzer cookies are cookie sandwiches cut in unique shapes, filled with jam, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. They are buttery, nutty, with fruity-sweet flavors of jam and the light sweetness of powdered sugar on top.
Linzer Cookies Origin
These Austrian cookies are named after Linz, a city in Austria. They’re fancy, delicate cookies made around Christmastime.
It’s believed that the Linzer cookie was created to be a smaller, bite-sized version of the Linzer torte.
Linzer cookies are known to be made with almond flour, then rolled out and cut into shapes with scalloped edges. The center of the top cookie is cut out into a shape to show the fruit jam in the middle.
The jam is traditionally raspberry, but any flavor can work. I used blackberry, raspberry, apricot, and cherry. Cherry was our favorite!
Ingredients
- Butter
- White Granulated Sugar
- Large Egg
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Almond Flour
- All-Purpose Flour
- Confectioners’ Sugar, for topping
- Jam, any flavor
How to Make Linzer Cookies
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed. Add almond flour and all-purpose flour and continue mixing on low. It will begin to pull from the sides of the bowl and form a ball in the center.
- Cover the dough and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out cookie dough and use a 2″ cookie cutter to cut shapes. Cut a smaller shape in the center of half of the 2″ cookies. Leave the other half as-is.
- Add cut cookies to the lined baking sheet ½″ apart. The cookies do not spread or rise much. Bake for 8 minutes until they are just set.
- Set cookies on a cooling rack. Once fully cooled, add ½-1 teaspoon of jam to each of the 2″ base cookies.
- Coat the tops (the cookies with the center cut out) with powdered sugar. Place the sugared cookie on top of the cookie with jam.
- Store in a cool, dry place for up to a week.
Substitutes
If you have trouble finding almond flour, you can substitute it for all-purpose flour, but you may need to cut back on the amount of AP flour. Almond flour is more moist, while AP flour is drier, resulting in a drier dough.
Obviously, the recipe already calls for AP flour, so adding more is okay. It won’t have any of the nutty flavor in the dough. I recommend adding a ½ teaspoon of almond extract.
Typically, the flour can be substituted in a 1:1 ratio, but I recommend slowly adding the AP flour until it begins pulling from the sides of the bowl. It should form a ball in the center of the mixer around the paddle attachment.
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Holiday Linzer Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter room temperature
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- ¾ cup Almond Flour
- 2 ¼ cups All-Purpose Flour
- Confectioners' Sugar for topping
- Jam raspberry jam is traditionally used, but pick your favorite flavor!
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed. Add almond flour and all-purpose flour and continue mixing on low. It will begin to pull from the sides of the bowl and form a ball in the center.
- Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out cookie dough and use a 2" cookie cutter to cut shapes. Cut a smaller shape in the center of half of the 2" cookies. Leave the other half as-is.
- Add cut cookies to the lined baking sheet ½" apart. The cookies do not spread or rise much. Bake for 8 minutes until they are just set.
- Set cookies on a cooling rack. Once fully cooled, add ½-1 teaspoon of jam to each of the 2" base cookies. Coat the tops (the cookies with the center cut out) with powdered sugar. Place the sugared cookie on top of the cookie with jam. Store in a cool, dry place for up to a week.
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