Classic Linzer Cookies

These cutout shortbread sandwiches from Austria are an eye-catching holiday treat.

Published on December 17, 2024

This recipe is brought to you by the SAVEUR Cookbook Club, our passionate community of food-loving readers from around the globe, celebrating our favorite authors and recipes. Join us as we cook through a new book every month, and share your food pics and vids on social media with the hashtags #SAVEURCookbookClub and #EatTheWorld.

In his fourth cookbook, Crumbs, food writer and former SAVEUR editor Ben Mims takes an encyclopedic approach to the humble cookie, sharing the recipes and histories of 300 cookies from 100 countries across the globe. These cookies may be one of the more familiar entries in the book—peekaboo jam-sandwich cookies from the town of Linz, Austria, known as Linzer cookies. Like many other cookies, Mims traces them back to a larger-format dessert, open-faced shortbread tarts packed with ground hazelnuts, coated in red currant or raspberry jam, and baked into a lattice crust. As they evolved into cookie form, almonds took the place of hazelnuts and the cookies were stacked into a sandwich. Variations on jam-filled cookies exist across Europe, but this recipe offers a taste close to the original Austrian cookies and the tarts from which they descend.

Featured in “Eat the World in 300 Cookies With This New Cookbook” by Jessica Carbone.

Makes
10 cookies
Time
45 minutes

Simon Bajada (Courtesy Phaidon)

Ingredients

2½ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (120 g) almond flour
¾ tsp. fine salt
16 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (135 g) confectioners sugar, plus more for dusting
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup red currant or raspberry jam

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Instructions

Step 1

Position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 325°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, and salt. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter and confectioners sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2–3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture and stir with a silicone spatula until no dry patches of flour remain.

Step 2

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough ¼-inch thick. Using a 3-inch round cutter, preferably fluted, cut out rounds of dough and transfer them to two large parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. Reroll the scraps to cut out more rounds. Using a 1-inch round cutter, cut out the centers of half of the dough rounds. (Save the centers to bake separately or reroll to cut out a few more cookies.)

Step 3

Bake until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges and dry to the touch, 13–17 minutes, rotating and swapping the baking sheets halfway through. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks. Set aside to cool for 1 minute, then transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely.

Step 4

Place a heaping teaspoon of jam in the center of each whole cookie, then spread toward the edges, leaving a border of cookie exposed. Using a fine sieve, dust the ring-shaped cookies with sugar. Place each ring-shaped cookie over a jam-coated cookie to create sandwiches and serve.

Position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 325°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, and salt. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter and confectioners sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2–3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture and stir with a silicone spatula until no dry patches of flour remain.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough ¼-inch thick. Using a 3-inch round cutter, preferably fluted, cut out rounds of dough and transfer them to two large parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. Reroll the scraps to cut out more rounds. Using a 1-inch round cutter, cut out the centers of half of the dough rounds. (Save the centers to bake separately or reroll to cut out a few more cookies.)
Bake until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges and dry to the touch, 13–17 minutes, rotating and swapping the baking sheets halfway through. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks. Set aside to cool for 1 minute, then transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely.
Place a heaping teaspoon of jam in the center of each whole cookie, then spread toward the edges, leaving a border of cookie exposed. Using a fine sieve, dust the ring-shaped cookies with sugar. Place each ring-shaped cookie over a jam-coated cookie to create sandwiches and serve.

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