Linzer cookies are classic in Czech baking. They are known as linecké koláčky especially during the Christmas season. They are very easy and quick to prepare and bake. Homemade Linzer Cookies are smooth and buttery, not dry like the store-bought cookies and they are filled with a tart cherry jam. Gluten-free versions are always more difficult to make. If you can handle none gluten-free I will add a recipe as well
Traditional version of Linzer Cookie:
We usually go by 3x2x1 rule
- 300g flour
- 200g butter
- 100g sugar
- fresh lemon rind
- extra flour for dusting the surface while rolling dough.
Here is gluten Free version:
Add all ingredients into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and mix till all ingredients are incorporated together and forming a nice soft dough. You can make this dough by hand, but it takes much longer and is way messier when you are finished. Wrap the dough into a plastic foil and store it in the fridge for at least two hours, overnight is the best. When the dough is too sticky, it means butter is melting and needs to go back into a fridge. Don’t forget to put a name on the dough. If you are making multiple doughs in one night, they are easy to mix up as some look similar to each other.
When you are ready to cut out cookies, roll dough on a surface dusted lightly with flour. If you add too much flour it will change the structure and became dry after baking. These cookies can be very fragile, especially the gluten-free version. Keep your leftover dough in the fridge while you are cutting shapes out. That will help butter not to melt fast.
Cut out any shape you wish. You can make all circles or squares. Just make sure you have a bottom piece without a hole and a top piece with a hole since they will be put together as a sandwich. You can store them in a container till you are ready to fill them with a jam. When you are ready to put them together, use jelly without any pieces of fruit or seeds. I personally like a little bit more sour jelly as that goes nice with a sweet cookie. Raspberry jelly would bring a sour taste but I prefer red currant, which is a little bit hard to find and I have to venture to an international store. If you do have Sprouts nearby you, they sell seedless raspberry jelly.
The fastest way to spread jelly is to pipe it on your cookie and then just stick two cookies together like a sandwich. You can also spread your jelly with a butter knife.
How to store these cookies? Can you freeze them?
Store in a plastic or air tight container. I keep them in a fridge, due to living in southern state with high humidity and cookies could get moldy. Nobody would like that right? You can also double the recipe and store some cookies in a freezer. They taste actually even better out of freezer. They get more soft and not crunchy. When they are freshly baked, they are very crunchy, but as days go and cookies are soaking moisture from jelly, they get softer and much better.
Check other posts for more cookie recipes or about Christmas time in Czech Republic.
Linzer cookies
Ingredients
- 250 g butter room temperature
- 120 g powdered sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 450 g gluten free flour
- 50 g potato starch
- lemon rine from half of the lemon
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- – Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- – In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla and egg. Lastly add flour, salt, and potato starch. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 2 hours or overnight.
- – Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and cut 2 3/4-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or spade-shaped cutter. Place all the cookies on a baking sheet.
- – Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow cooling to room temperature. Spread raspberry preserves on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar and press the flat sides together, with the raspberry preserves in the middle and the confectioners' sugar on the top.
Notes
- I like to use seedless raspberry jam, as it’s soft without pieces of fruit and more on the sour side, which pairs well with sugary cookies.
- Store in an airtight container
- these also freeze well
