Linzer Cookies from Baked Occasions

Linzer cookies (Linzer eyes is the translation from German) and their cake-sized sibling Linzertorte originated in the Austrian town of Linz, according to my very excited German co-worker. Intriguingly, Linzertorte is supposedly the oldest known cake, dating back to the 1600s. It's a mildly-flavored dessert made with almond flour, regular flour, egg, sugar, and of course, plenty of butter. The torte typically features a lattice-pattern cover, while the cookies are typically windowpane-style so the consumer can see the jam inside. They usually show up around Christmas time in the US, but there's no reason not to enjoy them all year round.

Matt and Renato's version of Linzer cookies stays close to tradition, but includes a small spin in the form of a bit of cocoa powder in the dough and the use of a unique jam. Despite being roll-out cookies, Linzer cookies do not require much work to make. The dough comes together quickly, then you simply divide the dough in half, pat each flat between two parchment paper sheets, and refrigerate them for a couple of hours or overnight prior to the roll-and-cut phase.

The rolling out phase of making these Linzer cookies was where I ran into trouble - probably because last week was one of the hottest weeks we've had, and I was pre-heating the oven. The window box A/C unit in my kitchen hasn't really been up to the challenge. I had to work really quickly with the dough, because it got too soft to work with in under 2 minutes each try. The heat and humidity in my kitchen (at 6 am, no less) made rolling, cutting, and gently picking up the raw dough a time-consuming hurdle. Even without heat issues, I am guessing the roll and cut step is likely to require working relatively quickly. I gave up on rolling it out precisely, and hoped that my pat out job was good and thin enough. I froze the cookie rounds and the cookie cut-outs for at least 15 minutes to try to firm them up. In the end, I wound up with 18 2.5-inch cookies and 8 mini 1-inch cookies from the center cut outs I made. I think my dough wasn't as thin as the recipe instructed, but I was trying my best not to overwork it.I baked the 2.5-inch rounds for 8 minutes, then the cut-outs and 1-inch rounds for 6 minutes. Once baked, assembly was simple. I let the cookies cool completely, then dusted the cut-outs and half the mini cookies with powdered sugar. Instead of blueberry-rhubarb. I used a teaspoon of Sarabeth's raspberry-lime jam in between each standard cookie, and a bit less for the mini linzer cookies.Linzer cookies and bars can be tricky. Too heavy a hand with the ground nuts, flour, and/handling process and they become dry, too little flour and they're bland, limp, hard-to-handle shortbread-jam sandwiches. Usually, they veer towards dryness, as was true for this version from Baked Occasions. They came out of the oven perfectly, but as time went on they seemed to dry out more quickly than I anticipated. It's entirely possible this was my error. I used almond meal from TJ's rather than blanching my own almonds. I've blanched my own almonds once and it was so time-consuming and created such a mess in my kitchen that I'm not thrilled to do it again.

I liked these cookies and several of my co-workers expressed a lot of enthusiasm for them. One of them, who isn't a huge fan of sugary desserts, said he could eat these all day. Another girl said they were perfect for enjoying with her afternoon cup of coffee. However, they weren't a resounding success-at least one other friend commented on they were a little too dry. Also - no one seemed to notice the cocoa powder flavor in the cookie dough, so I'm not certain of its role in these cookies - I guess I should have made a second batch without to see if the two tasted any different. Either way, the cocoa powder didn't hurt these cookies any. Find the recipe over at Baked Sunday Mornings and read what the other bakers thought. Happy rainy Sunday!

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