Big Linzer Heart Cookies
Servings: 10 Big Linzer Hearts
Calories: 377kcal
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300 g) all-purpose flour
- A pinch of salt
- 1 cup (110 g) powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 1 pkg. vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 egg yolks
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (200 g) butter cold and cubed
Filling
- 7 oz. (200 g) seedless smooth red currant or raspberry jam
Instructions
- On your work surface, add the salt to the flour and cut or rub the cold butter cubes into the flour until only shreds of butter remain.
- Make a well in the center of the flour, and add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and egg yolks into the well.
- With a fork, mix the egg yolks with the powdered sugar and some of the flour, making a thick paste. Bring all the dough together with your hands and knead it just until you form a smooth dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and for up to 2 days. The dough should be cold when you roll it out.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (170°C).
- Roll the dough to ⅛ inch (3 mm) thickness on a well-floured work surface. Cut out hearts with a big (4 inch or 10 cm) cookie cutter and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cut a smaller heart out of the center of half the cookies with a small (1 inch or 2.5 cm) heart cookie cutter. Knead the scraps together and repeat rolling and cutting out the hearts.
- Position the baking tray in the center of the oven and bake at 350°F (170°C) for about 8 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove from the oven and carefully pull the parchment paper, with the cookies on it, off the tray and onto a work surface for the cookies to cool.
- Warm the jam for 20 second intervals in the microwave until it is a slightly runny and stir. Using a teaspoon, spread the bottoms of the hearts without holes generously with jam and top with the hearts with the cutouts. Dust with powdered sugar.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for at least two days to allow them to become tender. Cookies will keep for two weeks or more.
Notes
Here are some tips for working with this dough:
~ If the dough is very hard when you take it out of the refrigerator, you may need to let it stand at room temperature for an hour or two before you can roll it out.
~ Use plenty of flour when rolling out the dough: under the dough, on top of the dough, and on your rolling pin.
~ The dough often sticks to the work surface when rolling it out. Carefully slide a thin, flexible knife (I use a small offset palette knife) under the dough to release it.
~ Don’t roll the dough out too thinly - because of their big size the cookies will break more easily after baking. Using 3 mm dough spacers or rolling pin attachments help get the dough evenly rolled out to the exact thickness needed.
~ The last of the dough scraps can be used to make thumbprint cookies: roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts, make an indentation in the middle with your finger, fill the indentation with jam and bake.
~ If the dough is very hard when you take it out of the refrigerator, you may need to let it stand at room temperature for an hour or two before you can roll it out.
~ Use plenty of flour when rolling out the dough: under the dough, on top of the dough, and on your rolling pin.
~ The dough often sticks to the work surface when rolling it out. Carefully slide a thin, flexible knife (I use a small offset palette knife) under the dough to release it.
~ Don’t roll the dough out too thinly - because of their big size the cookies will break more easily after baking. Using 3 mm dough spacers or rolling pin attachments help get the dough evenly rolled out to the exact thickness needed.
~ The last of the dough scraps can be used to make thumbprint cookies: roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts, make an indentation in the middle with your finger, fill the indentation with jam and bake.
Nutrition
Calories: 377kcal