These little cookies (or not so little in some cases) are some of my favorites. Only I didn't know it until fairly recently. My father-in-law is also a fan of them.
A simple sandwich cookie that has a "window" punched out of the top and is traditionally filled with raspberry or apricot preserves. I used apricot. They turned out marvelous, if I do say so myself.
Months ago I bought my first Linzer Tart cutter. A uni-tasker, which I don't like, but it came with 6 different cutouts for the window. I got another cutter with Halloween shaped cutouts. Unfortunately, because it seems they don't sell the cutouts separately, I have to buy more cutters just to get the cutouts. Not the end of the world, but as I only need 1 cutter it's not a great option just to get some center cutters. I'm been thinking of just getting a few different biscuit cutters (fluted and "regular") and using fondant cutters as well as the cutouts I already have for the windows. The biscuit cutters would certainly be multi-taskers.
I just love to make these cookies. It's a lot of fun.
Tart cutter and window cutter
Ready to go into the oven!
Freshly baked and sugared. Time to cool on a rack.
Completed. Aren't they purdy?
Linzer Tart Recipe
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preserves of your choice (raspberry and apricot are traditional)
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Beat together in a mixer at medium speed the butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Reduce speed and add flour mixture until just combined.
With hands "floured" with powdered sugar, form the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill until firm. At least 2 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out 1 disk of dough on a lightly "floured" (with powdered sugar) surface. I found that rolling out on parchment paper or waxed paper worked very well. Cut out as many tarts as possible with the tart cutter. Using the cutout piece, cut windows out of half of the tarts that you just cut. Reform a ball with the scraps, wrap in plastic wrap and re-chill.
Transfer cookies to a cookie sheet (I lined mine with foil) and bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes. In my oven, 11 minutes was perfect. You just want the edges to become golden.
Remove the cookies from the sheet and put on a cooling rack. I set up a "sugaring station" for the cookies with the windows. While they are still hot you want to sift powdered sugar over the windowed cookies. If you wait until the cookies are cooled, the sugar will not stick. I place all of my hot "tops" on another baking sheet and sifted the sugar over them that way. Transfer your tops back to the cooling rack.
Continue this process until all of the dough has been cut and all of the cookies made and sugared.
Once the cookies are completely cooled, take an un-windowed cookie and spread approximately 1 teaspoon of preserves on it. Sandwich a windowed cookie on top. Viola! You have a Linzer Tart. Sandwich the remaining cookies in the same manner.
These are time consuming but surprisingly easy cookies to make.
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preserves of your choice (raspberry and apricot are traditional)
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Beat together in a mixer at medium speed the butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Reduce speed and add flour mixture until just combined.
With hands "floured" with powdered sugar, form the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill until firm. At least 2 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out 1 disk of dough on a lightly "floured" (with powdered sugar) surface. I found that rolling out on parchment paper or waxed paper worked very well. Cut out as many tarts as possible with the tart cutter. Using the cutout piece, cut windows out of half of the tarts that you just cut. Reform a ball with the scraps, wrap in plastic wrap and re-chill.
Transfer cookies to a cookie sheet (I lined mine with foil) and bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes. In my oven, 11 minutes was perfect. You just want the edges to become golden.
Remove the cookies from the sheet and put on a cooling rack. I set up a "sugaring station" for the cookies with the windows. While they are still hot you want to sift powdered sugar over the windowed cookies. If you wait until the cookies are cooled, the sugar will not stick. I place all of my hot "tops" on another baking sheet and sifted the sugar over them that way. Transfer your tops back to the cooling rack.
Continue this process until all of the dough has been cut and all of the cookies made and sugared.
Once the cookies are completely cooled, take an un-windowed cookie and spread approximately 1 teaspoon of preserves on it. Sandwich a windowed cookie on top. Viola! You have a Linzer Tart. Sandwich the remaining cookies in the same manner.
These are time consuming but surprisingly easy cookies to make.
Wishing you baking bliss during the holidays.
FatCat
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