Whenever I think of Linzer Cookies, I always think of Christmas but I love making them year round too. I love how they look like little wreaths. This is a twist on the classic with the addition of orange zest and rye flour. Just a little bit of orange zest brings out the flavor of the cookie and the jam filling. Here I used strawberry and apricot jam but it also goes so well with caramel or a chocolate spread. I've been using different flours in my baking and that little bit of rye flour brings a nice nutty richness to the dough. These Orange Rye Linzer Cookies are beautiful and melt in your mouth delicious.
Finish it off with a lovely dusting of powdered sugar to make them extra festive.
ORANGE RYE LINZER COOKIES
(makes about 12 sandwich cookies)
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
zest of 1/2 an orange
1 egg yolk, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup rye flour
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
jam, for filling
powdered sugar, for dusting
METHOD
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and zest until light and fluffy. Add the yolk and vanilla and mix until combined. In a medium mixing bowl stir the flour, rye flour, almond flour, and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Be careful not to overtax it. Divide the dough into 2 portion and press them into a disc. Wrap each disc in plastic and chill for about one hour. When you are ready to bake the cookies, take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit for 10 minutes so you can roll it out. Lightly flour the surface, and roll each disc to about an 1/8"thickness. Using a 2 inch round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. the dough makes enough for about 12 sandwiches. With a small heart cutter, cut out the center of half the cookie rounds. Gather the scraps to reroll later. Bake the cookies on 2 parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until they are lightly golden brown. Let the cookies cool completely before filling them. Dust the cookies with the cutout hearts holes with powdered sugar. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the center of the remaining cookies spreading and top with the sugar coated tops.
TIPS
Instead of jam, try filling the cookies with a chocolate spread or a thick caramel sauce.
Reroll the scraps one time to make at a later time
Drizzle the tops with royal icing, instead of using powdered sugar.
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