Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies
Buttery almond sugar cookies, sandwiched with raspberry jam and vanilla almond buttercream.
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Equipment
- Food Processor
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie Cutters
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup raw almonds, toasted
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
- ½ cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 tbsp milk or cream
Filling
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp meringue powder, optional
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 jar seedless raspberry preserves (see note)
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- First, toast the almonds (this step is optional, but adds more depth of flavor). Preheat the oven to 350 F, and place the almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for about 5-7 minutes, until fragrant, but don't let them burn. Let the almonds cool completely before adding them to the dough. You don't want hot almonds that will melt or soften the butter in the dough. If you like, you can remove the skins by rubbing the almonds between two towels, but I left the skins on mine.
- In your food processor, combine the cooled almonds with the flour, powdered sugar, salt and cardamom, and pulse for about a minute until the almonds are very finely ground.
- With the processor running, drop in the pieces of cold butter, one at a time. Pulse until well distributed.
- Add the extracts and milk, and pulse just until the crumbs come together into a dough.
- Dump the dough out, and knead a few times with your hands, just to incorporate any stray floury bits, until you have a soft, supple dough. Shape into a flat disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll and Cut the Cookies
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough (dusting with a little more flour as needed), to nearly 1/8 inch thick. Using a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut as many cookies as you can, and place the cut cookies 1 inch apart on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Gather up the dough scraps, roll again, and finish cutting all of the dough. You should be able to cut around 36 cookies for 18 assembled sandwich cookies.
- Now use a small 3/4 cutter to cut the centers out of half the cookies.
- Set the baking pan of cut cookies in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. Chilling helps prevent the cookies from spreading while baking.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 10 minutes. They should be pale golden, with flaky edges. When turned over, you shouldn't see any wet or raw dough underneath.
- Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. These cookies are very delicate since they're so thin, so handle them gently.
Fill the Cookies
- With an electric mixer (stand or hand held), beat the softened butter for 1 minute, until smooth. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar and meringue powder, mixing until combined. Add the extracts. Beat the buttercream for several minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl down several times, until light and fluffy.
- Fit a piping bag with a coupler and a medium round tip (#12), and fill with the buttercream.
- Turn the bottom cookies upside down. Pipe a ring of buttercream onto the bottom cookies, then fill the centers with the raspberry jam.
- Lightly dust the top cookies with powdered sugar, then place them on top of the filling, gently pressing them down.
Notes
- Assembled linzer cookies should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
- The cookie dough can also be made in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap, and refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for 3-6 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature until pliable enough to roll out.
- If you can’t find seedless raspberry jam, simply press the jam with seeds through a mesh strainer to get all the jam through, then discard the seeds left behind in the strainer. Straining the jam will be easiest if you warm it slightly first.
- Linzer cookies are even better a day after they're made and assembled. Initially, the cookies will be a little crisp. But as they absorb moisture from the buttercream and raspberry jam, they'll soften.
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