Linzer

Ingredients

• 10½ ozWheat flourall-purpose; for the shortcrust dough
• 7 ozbuttercold, cubed and rubbed into the flour; margarine in some sources
• 3½ ozpowdered sugarfor the dough
• 2Egg yolkbinds the dough; one source uses whole eggs
• 1lemonuntreated, zest only
• ⅓ ozvanilla sugaror vanilla extract
• 1 tspbaking powdermakes the cookies lighter (optional)
• 1 pinchSaltfor the dough (optional)
• 5¼ ozJamfor filling, stirred smooth
• 2 tbsppowdered sugarfor dusting the tops
• 3½ ozdark chocolatemelted, for coating or decorating (optional)
• 1¾ ozwalnutsground, into the dough (optional)
• 1 tspcinnamonspices the dough (optional)

Method

1. Mix the wheat flour with the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar in a bowl; if you like, add the baking powder, a pinch of salt, ground walnuts and cinnamon.
2. Add the cold butter, cubed or coarsely grated, and rub it in quickly with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
3. Add the egg yolks and the grated lemon zest and knead briefly into a smooth dough — the less you work it, the more tender the cookies will be.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill it for 30 to 60 minutes.
5. Roll the dough out 3 to 5 mm thick on a lightly floured surface, cut out the cookies, and cut a hole in the centre of half of them; gather the scraps, press them together and roll them out again.
6. Set the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake at 160 to 375 °F just briefly, until the edges are set but still pale.
7. Let them cool completely, then spread the bottoms with jam that you have stirred until smooth.
8. Dust the lids with powdered sugar and set them gently on the filled bottoms; if you like, coat or decorate the cookies with melted dark chocolate.

Tips and variations

Margarine works in place of butter, and for a livelier dough you can add a little lemon juice or work in ground walnuts and cinnamon. Fill the cookies while they are still warm and wrap them in paper if you want them to stay soft. The same dough can be shaped into a single large Linzer egg, coated in a glaze of milk and dark chocolate and piped with royal icing — or cut into snowmen, brushed with chocolate, rolled in shredded coconut and given faces with a decorating pen. A filling of pistachio cream with white chocolate and toasted pistachios is lovely too, and that version bakes nicely in the air fryer at 160 °C. For a heartier dough, use wholegrain spelt and wholemeal flour with a little lard and sweetener instead of sugar.