Tuesdays with Dorie: Linzer Sables

Noskos of Living the Life chose Linzer Sables as this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie selection. I’ve made linzer cookies before, but it’s been years so I was happy to give these a try again. I have quite a selection of mini cookie cutters for the cut out. I was hoping to use a star or a Christmas tree cut out for the center, but those were a bit too big. I ended up using a flower shape for the cut out.

I made my recipe with hazelnuts, which is probably not a surprise if you read this blog frequently. I love hazelnuts! My round cookie cutter was about 2-1/2 inches, so slightly larger than the 2 inch one called for in the recipe. My recipe made about 18 sandwiches, or 36 individual cookies. I have no idea how Dorie made 25 sandwich cookies from this recipe! I rolled mine a bit thinner than ¼ inch, more like 1/8 inch, so I don’t know how I could have made the dough go any further than it did.

I filled mine with raspberry jam. I thinned it with water like the recipe stated, but it seemed so thin! They firm up once they are sandwiched together. The raspberry jam has a nice tart taste with was a nice complement to the sweetness of the hazelnuts. They’re also very, very pretty. These are quite messy to eat; I don’t know how you can eat one without getting powdered sugar all over you!

These would be an excellent choice for a Christmas cookie tray. They are very festive. Mine were quite dark, due to the hazelnuts being darker to start with. I might try these with almonds next time, which wouldn’t darken so much. They are quite crisp and I think I would prefer a slightly softer cookie. I guess you could make these with a traditional sugar cookie, but I really like the extra flavor that the nuts add.

If you’d like to try these for yourself, you can see the complete recipe at the Living the Life blog.

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, p. 134