Made with a not-too-sweet and pleasantly crumbly nut dough, Linzer cookies, with their shower of powdered sugar, make a lovely addition to a cookie tray. You can use any type of nut you prefer and any type of jam.
320gramsunsalted butter11.3 oz or 2 1/4 sticks plus 1 Tablespoon
240gramspowdered sugar8.5 oz or 2 cups
10gramssaltsalt volume varies wildly between kosher and table salt. Weighing will be most accurate. See NOTES
2largeeggs
80gramsvery finely chopped or ground nuts, your choice of nut2.8 oz or 1/2 cup (measured before chopping)
620 gramsall-purpose flour22 oz or 4 1/2 cups, measured by stirring, spooning, and sweeping
To Shape, Bake, and Finish
1teaspoonjam of choiceper cookie
½cuppowdered sugaror coarse sugar for a less traditional finish
Instructions
For the Nut Dough
Cream butter and salt together until smooth and creamy.
Whisk the powdered sugar in really well.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until completely combined. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
Whisk the flour and ground nuts together then stir into the butter and egg mixture.
Divide the dough into 2 pieces, form each into a thick disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour.
To Shape, Bake, and Finish
Place racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven. Heat oven to 350F.
Working with one disc of dough at a time, place between 2 sheets of parchment, and roll out to about 1/8". Remove and smooth out the parchment periodically so you don't roll creases into your dough.
Using a scalloped round cutter in whatever size you prefer (around 2" is a nice size) cut out rounds close together. Carefully remove the scraps and reroll once, cutting as many cookies out as you can. You should have about 20 rounds of dough. Do NOT reroll scraps more than once--the 2nd rerolls will be tough.
Cut out a smaller round from the centers of half the cookies and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets or half-sheet pans. Cookies won't spread, so you can bake them close together.
Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, rotating the racks from top to bottom and back to front halfway through the baking time. Cookies are ready when they are firm and no longer shiny and are golden-brown around the edges.
Allow the cookies to cool on the pans for a couple of minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely
Once completely cool, dust the cutout cookies (the ones with the holes in the centers) liberally with powdered sugar. Turn the solid round cookies over so the bottoms are up..
Repeat with the second round of dough.
Scoop about a teaspoon of your favorite jam/s onto the centers of the solid cookies and spread out a little bit. Do NOT be fancy and try to use a ton of jam, or it will run out the sides. You really only need enough to show in the cutout "window" in the center of each cookie plus enough extra to actually stick the cookies together.
Let the cookies sit out for about an hour so the jam can set up. Store them at room temperature in single-layers without overlapping, using a piece of waxed paper or parchment between the layers. The cookies will be crunchy on the first day and will soften up a bit over the next couple of days.
Notes
A Note about Salt
1 teaspoon of Morton's kosher salt weighs 5 grams.
1 teaspoon of Diamond kosher salt weighs 3 grams.
1 teaspoon of fine table salt weighs 6 grams.
You need 10 grams of salt for this recipe. That's 2 teaspoons of Morton's, 3 and 1/3 teaspoons of Diamond, or 1 2/3 teaspoons of table salt.
Tips
For the easiest cutting, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment and chill for 30 minutes before cutting out the cookies.Do NOT use more than 1 teaspoon jam per cookie. Using too much jam will result in very sloppy, messy Linzers.If you want to use sparkly sugar instead of powdered sugar, roll or press the sugar gently into the dough after cutting but before baking.
FAQ
Do I have to refrigerate Linzer cookies?No, you don’t. The amount of jam in each is very small, and it sets up pretty quickly. A “gooier” cookie with a bunch of jam would need to be refrigerated. You can refrigerate them if you prefer, but it’s not necessary for food safety.
How long will Linzer cookies stay fresh?In airtight containers at room temperature, your cookies will stay fresh for 4-5 days. The first day, they’ll be a bit crunchy, but they will soften up as the moisture from the jam works its magic.
Can I freeze them?I would make and freeze the dough in sheets, and then make the cookies when you need them. If you need to freeze them after making, arrange them in single layers, not overlapping, with waxed paper or parchment between the layers, and freeze in freezer-safe containers until needed.