linzer cookies with homemade jam

Linzer Cookies with Homemade Jams

Printable Recipe

For the Cookies:

(makes approx. 20 cookies)

1 cup of cake flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar ( I powdered raw sugar in the blender)
1 tsp orange or vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Mix the flours and salt in a bowl with a fork or a whisk.  Keep aside.

Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment until uniform.  Add the powdered sugar and mix until just incorporated.

Add the flour mix in two instalments and mix just until the flour blends in.

Form the dough into a ball and flatten into a disc.  Cover with saran wrap and chill for 1/2 hr in the refrigerator.

After half an hour, roll it on a parchment paper until about 1/4 inch thick.  You can flour the disc very lightly while rolling.

Transfer the parchment paper with the dough onto a cookie sheet and chill in the refigerator for half an hour.  This helps the cookies hold their shape when cut.

While the dough is in the fridge, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the dough, dip the linzer cutter in flour and dust off most of it.  Cut the cookies  – an equal number with and without the patterns so as to make sandwiches.

Gather the scraps and knead slightly, make it into a ball and then a disc and refrigerate.  Repeat the steps from above until all the dough is used up.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees F for 9-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.  The times vary depending on the oven so watch them from about 9 mins.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Dust the tops with powdered sugar.

Add about a 1 1/2 tsp of the jam to the bottom cookie and cover with the powdered top.

Fruit Jams

(The flavors I made were pear-ginger, pineapple-pink peppercorn, apple-cinnamon, peach-cardamom and strawberry-vanilla)

1 cup finely chopped ripe fruit
1/3 cup raw sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp regular fruit pectin
Any spice of your choice

Mix the fruit and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and keep aside for 1/2 hr to macerate.  Microwave for 3-4 mins.

Remove and stir and then microwave for another 2 mins.

Add the lemon juice and pectin powder and back into the microwave for another 4-5 mins.

You should still see a little fruit juice but the mixture should look shiny.  It will thicken quite a bit upon cooling.

* You can use just the all-purpose or cake flour instead of the mix.
*  The cookies tend to soften in a couple of days so would not be a good choice for mailing.  
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