Linzer Cookies

Hearts. Chocolate. Flowers. That can only mean one thing—It’s Valentine’s Week! What are you making for your sweetie?

Maybe a batch of beautiful Linzer cookies? These jewel-like pretties are a great way to score some Valentine’s points. A sweet almond cookie filled with ruby red jam and cut into cute little heart shapes? What’s not to love!

Be warned, this dough is a little dry and crumbly. I had to add another egg to the original recipe to even get it to stick together. Comparing it to other Linzer recipes, it only has half the eggs and butter of almost every other recipe for the same amount of dry ingredients. Too bad I didn’t notice that until I already had everything mixed! But once I threw the extra egg in, it worked itself out and ended up really tasty! (Well.. still a little dry in my opinion. But good nonetheless.) And they turned out beautiful. I love the way they look! And I can only imagine how pretty they would be all wrapped up in a box for your Valentine. Too bad my Valentine doesn’t like raspberry. Oh well. All my Valentines at work enjoyed them instead!

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Linzer Cookies
Adapted from Eat, Live, Run
Makes 18 to 24 cookies (depending on size)



2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup finely ground almonds (I used almond meal)
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Raspberry jam (or your favorite flavor)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats; set aside. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of dough to 1/8-inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch fluted circle or heart cookie cutter, cut out shapes, gathering and rerolling scraps. Transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets and bake, rotating sheets halfway through for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges just start to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
4. While first batch is cooling, roll out second half of dough, to 1/8-inch thickness. With the same circle or heart cutter, cut out more shapes. With a small 1-inch heart or circle cookie cutter, cut out the centers of shapes to create a hole in each. These will be the tops of your sandwich cookies. (Make sure you cut out an equal number of tops and bottoms!) Transfer to prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges just start to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. When cookies are cooled, dust the tops (the ones with holes) with confectioners’ sugar. Spread a thin layer of jam over the solid cookies and sandwich together.