Linzer Cookies Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Valentine's Day

by: Posie (Harwood) Brien

February4,2016

4 Ratings

Makes 2 dozen 3-inch cookies

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Author Notes

Classic Linzer cookies get the Valentine's Day treatment with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Delicate and nutty, these cookies get extra flavor from both ground cinnamon and lemon zest. —Posie (Harwood) Brien

Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients

1 cupbutter, at room temperature
³/₄ cupgranulated sugar
1 teaspoonvanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1 cupalmond flour
2 cupsall-purpose flour
¹/₂ teaspoonsalt
¹/₂ teaspoonground cinnamon
1 teaspoonfreshly grated lemon zest
¹/₄ cupconfectioners' sugar, for dusting
¹/₂ cupraspberry jam

Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a handheld mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and egg yolks and beat for one minute.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond flour, all-purpose flour, salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined, stopping to scrape down the bowl as you go.
Divide the dough in half and press each half into a disc. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (you can do this a day or two in advance if you like).
When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° F.
Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. If your dough is sticking, keep dusting it with more flour and rolling until it feels right. If it softens too much, stick it back in the refrigerator for a bit. Using a 3-inch heart cookie cutter (or circular cutter), cut out as many cookies as you can manage. Keep re-rolling the dough until you run out.
Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and put the sheet in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes. Chilling helps the cookies keep their shape when baking.
Repeat with the second disc of dough, but this time cut out your 3-inch shapes, and then use a 2-inch cookie cutter of the same shape to cut out the insides of the second set of cookies. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on the edges.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool. When ready to assemble, dust confectioners' sugar over the tops of the hollow shapes, leaving the solid shapes plain.
Using a small knife or spoon, spread jam over each of the solid shapes. Top each one with a dusted sugar cookie.

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14 Reviews

MICHELE L. February 14, 2021

Fantastic recipe! The dough is really easy to work with compared to other Linzer recipes and doesn't get tough upon re-rolling. I found I only had to bake them 10-12 minutes though. The first batch was over done.

MICHELE L. February 14, 2021

Fantastic recipe! The dough is easy to work with compared to other Linzerb recipes and doesn't get tough upon re-rolling. I found I only needed to bake them 11-12 minutes versus what the recipe stated.

marjon December 10, 2020

See Also

Quick & Easy Homemade Cheez-It Recipe

I’ve made this recipe four times since COVID and it’s always a home run. I would warn that it’s a long process, but completely worth it.

erika February 16, 2020

Impossible to roll out this dough and when I finally did each cut out crumbled. Got 12 cookies and tossed the rest of the dough I was so frustrated.

nina March 25, 2017

Excellent, though the dough is a pain to roll out at any temperature. There's one perfect temp at which it doesn't stick or crumble instantly, and it lasts approximately thirty seconds. Still, the dough is quite forgiving of having a fair bit more flour gradually sprinkled in and scraps getting re-rolled, so don't stress. Just use parchment paper and save the prettiest ones for the top cookies. I only had one, circular cutter, so I cut hearts in half of them with a knife and made some sandwich cookies out of those.

Gloria B. March 2, 2016

Is it okay to use unsalted butter in this recipe?
Thanks

localappetite February 17, 2016

I made these over the weekend for Valentine's Day. They were a huge hit. A few things I did different - I didn't have almonds, and my almond flour was not fresh. I used pistachios, and ground them myself per @Smaug's comment. They were great! I definitely want to try them with almonds and walnuts as a comparison. Also, I found that putting them in the fridge after they were finished, helped to set the jam nicely, and did not impact the flavor. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!

gardeningal February 14, 2016

Have always been a favorite of mine. Thanks for the recipe. Can't wait to bake some!

Dawn February 14, 2016

These came out great!!!

NBG February 13, 2016

The cookies crumbled when trying to remove them from pan. Did not use parchment paper. Have experienced before with gluten free flour and roll out cookies crumbled. Think the almond flour contributed to cookies breaking or that I didn't grease pan/use parchment paper. It's can happen with parchment too. Very, very frustrating. We got 2 complete cookies out of possible 14.

SHulme February 10, 2016

I loved your story about the Valentine's lost in the snow and ice. So sweet. This is a great recipe and I look forward to making them soon. Good way to use up the Almond flour I have stashed in the freezer. Thank you.

Smaug February 7, 2016

I like Linzer Torte-and linzer cookies- made with walnuts, though I think Hazelnuts are most traditional; at any rate, it's better to grind your own nuts than buy almond flour; they'll be fresher, and they really should be fairly coarse. What I need is some clever trick to thicken the jam a bit at room temperature; I suppose that something might be done with flour or cooking it down some, but neither really appeals much, nor does extensive experimentation seem very practical.

Smaug February 7, 2016

Also, 1/4" is very thick for a sandwich cookie- I use 5/16" for Linzer cookies.

Smaug February 15, 2016

Oops- that's 5/32".