In their original incarnation these were “Strawberry and Apricot Linzertorte Hearts,” adapted from a 1996 Gourmet magazine recipe. They make an ideal cookie for Valentine’s Day or Christmas, though I first encountered them in a different context. I found the recipe on Epicurious.com in the early 2000s during a summer when I was training for a half-marathon to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My fundraising that summer relied heavily on asking family and friends for donations, but I also ran several bake sales outside local supermarkets. From those bake-sale experiences I developed clear ideas about what makes a successful sale item. These linzertorte cookies—especially in their heart-shaped form—are a perfect bake-sale cookie.
What makes a great bake-sale cookie? Put simply: appearance matters. Taste is essential, of course, but a child leaving the supermarket is far more likely to press their parents for a neatly wrapped package of crisp, jewel-like, heart-shaped cookies than a bag of lumpy, plain oatmeal cookies. (My least favorite bake-sale contribution is clingfilm-wrapped frosted brownies: dull brown, often smushed, and prone to melting frosting.) These linzer cookies are not only attractive; they’re genuinely delicious.
I’ve made a few adjustments to the original recipe. The Gourmet/Epicurious version calls for pulsing ingredients in a food processor to form the dough; I don’t own a full-size food processor, so I use the creaming method instead, which works well. The original suggests rolling the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness, but after sandwiching two halves I find that a 1/8-inch thickness is preferable. The recipe also recommends a 3 1/2-inch heart cutter; I often use a mix of slightly smaller and larger cutters to produce a more varied batch.
These cookies aren’t the quickest to make. Periodic chilling of the dough while rolling is essential. Rolling, chilling, cutting, and re-rolling takes more time than you might expect, but the results are worth the effort.
Linzertorte Cookies
Adapted from Epicurious.com.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 c (150 g) blanched almonds toasted and cooled
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 c (315 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 c (60 g) cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 2 1/4 sticks (254 g) unsalted butter (not fridge cold)
- 1 c (120 g) confectioner’s sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2/3 c apricot jam heated, strained, and cooled
- 2/3 c strawberry jam heated, strained, and cooled
Instructions
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Pulse the almonds with the granulated sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Set aside.
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Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
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In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter with confectioner’s sugar and lemon zest. Add the egg and egg yolk and mix until combined. Add the ground almonds and the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
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Divide the dough in half and press each half into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.
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Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C).
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Remove one disk from the refrigerator and roll it out between sheets of wax or parchment paper (or between pieces of plastic wrap) to a 1/8-inch thickness. Transfer the rolled dough to a baking sheet and place in the freezer for 10–12 minutes.
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Remove the dough from the freezer and cut cookies with 2–3 1/2-inch heart or round cutters. For half the cookies, use a smaller cutter to cut out centers for the tops. Re-roll scraps as needed, returning the rolled dough to the freezer between passes. Arrange bottoms and tops on a parchment-lined sheet, spaced about 1/2 inch apart, and keep the sheet chilled in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
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Bake the sheets one at a time for 12–15 minutes, until the edges just begin to turn golden. Let cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
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When cookies are cool, spread about 1 teaspoon of jam on each cookie bottom and top with the cut-out pieces. Add a little more jam if a sandwich looks underfilled.
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Serve the same day, or store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days between layers of wax paper.
Recipe Notes
- You can freeze wrapped dough in a freezer bag for up to a month. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before rolling.
- The recipe uses apricot and strawberry jam. I once added seedless raspberry jam; its thin consistency was less ideal. If you use raspberry jam, consider a variety with seeds and strain it after heating for a better texture.
- Linzer cookie tops are often dusted with powdered sugar; you may dust them if you like, though I prefer the undusted appearance for these.
- If you don’t have a food processor, a mini processor can grind the almonds, or substitute 150 g of almond flour or almond meal.
