Chamomile and Apricot Linzer Cookies
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Happy Christmas Dessert Day 6! No Christmas cookie box is complete without Linzer cookies. There are a million recipes for Linzer cookies out there on the inter-webs, filled with everything from traditional berry jams to dulce de leche to chocolate. I actually even saw a recipe on Instagram the other day for matcha chocolate Linzers and that sounds like match made in heaven. Traditional Linzer cookies come from the town of Linz in Austria and are the same as a Linzer torte made bite-sized into cookie form. Two shortbread cookies, one with a little window cut out, sandwich a filling of your choice. They are pretty and festive and make a great addition to any holiday cookie box.
Technically speaking, true Linzer cookies have some sort of nut flour in them. (Since they are derived from the Linzer torte and if you remember my recently released expose on tortes, nut flour is a characteristic that distinguishes a torte from a cake.) These are flavored with chamomile and filled with a bright, floral apricot jam.
A few little tips to help make these successful for you: use cold dough! When working with shortbread of any type, butter melts quickly and chilling your dough frequently will save you lots of headaches. Chill the dough after mixing, and then while rolling and cutting, anytime the dough feels the tiniest bit soft, pop the whole sheet in the freezer for a few minutes, trust me on this! If your jam is thick and doesn’t seem pipe-able, just microwave for a few seconds to loosen it a bit.
Chamomile and Apricot Linzer Cookies
makes 18-20 cookies
recipe adapted from Susan Spungen
Ingredients
2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (50 g) almond flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp loose chamomile tea, from two tea bags
1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (135 g) granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp buttermilk, at room temperature
About 1/2 cup apricot jam*
Procedure
In a medium bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, almond flour, salt, and baking soda until no lumps remain. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, sugar, and chamomile tea. Cream on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat again, for 1-2 minutes, until completely combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and make sure that the mixture is homogenous.
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix just until the dough starts to come together around the paddle and no dry streaks of flour remain.
Divide the dough in half and pat each portion into a disc. Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour, until the dough is firm.
After the dough has chilled, place one disc between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out until dough is around 1/8” in thickness. Remove the top piece of parchment paper, slide the bottom piece of parchment paper along with the rolled out dough onto a sheet pan and transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes. Repeat the entire process with the other disc.
When you are ready to cut the cookies out, flour two round cookie cutters of your choice, one larger (around 2-3”) and one smaller (1-2”). Punch out cookies using the large cutter, then go back with the small cutter and punch out windows in half of the cookie rounds. Place dough back in the freezer to chill for another 5-10 minutes. Use a small offset spatula to remove excess dough (I found this is much easier when the dough is straight from the freezer), and then chill one last time while the oven preheats.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake cookies on their parchment lined baking sheets for 6-7 minutes, until just beginning to turn golden brown on the edges. Remove and let cool completely on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
To fill, place the apricot jam in a piping bag. Place the cookie bottoms on a piece of parchment paper and pipe a dollop of jam (about 1 tsp) in the center of each cookie bottom. Immediately sandwich the tops of the cookies with a windowed cookie top and press down gently. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
