Linzer Tart Squares Recipes

LINZER TARTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough in thirds. Shape each into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll one portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. holiday cookie cutters. Using floured 1-in. shaped cookie cutters, cut out the centers of half of the cookies., Place solid and window cookies 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Repeat with remaining portions of dough. Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., Sprinkle window cookies with additional confectioners' sugar. Spread 1 teaspoon Nutella on the bottom of each solid cookie; place window cookies over filling.

RASPBERRY LINZER BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and lemon zest. In another bowl, mix flour, ground almonds and cinnamon; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Press 2 cups dough onto bottom of a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Spread with preserves to within 1/2 in. of edges. Crumble remaining dough over preserves., Bake until lightly browned, 35-40 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. If desired, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Cut into bars.

LINZER TORTE BARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Mix all ingredients except preserves with spoon until crumbly. Press two-thirds of crumbly mixture on bottom of ungreased square pan, 9x9x2 inches. Spread with preserves. Sprinkle with remaining crumbly mixture; press gently into preserves.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour. For 48 bars, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows bars. Or cut into squares or triangles.

LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Pulse together flour and almonds in a food processor until the almonds are very finely ground. Add cinnamon, baking powder and salt, and pulse to blend. (Alternatively, whisk together flour, ground almonds or almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.)
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium-high until the mixture is light, fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and beat until everything is well combined, again stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary.
• Add in dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed, just until incorporated.
• Divide dough in 2 equal pieces, and wrap each piece in cling film, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk. Chill at least 2 hours, up to 5 days ahead.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper so it's about 1/8 inch thick. (Because of the almonds, the dough may crack in places while you're rolling it out. This is O.K., just patch it up with scraps.)
• Using a round cookie cutter 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out as many circles as possible. Take half of these circles and cut out a 1-inch circle from the interior of the larger circles, creating a doughnut shape that will become the top of the cookie. If at any point the dough becomes too soft to cut and cleanly remove from parchment paper, slide it onto a cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator. Gather any scraps of dough, combine them and roll them out, chilling as necessary. Transfer dough circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced 1 inch apart and bake until the edges are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
• To assemble the linzer cookies, spread about a teaspoon of raspberry jam onto the flat sides of the larger circles. Dust the tops of the cutout circles with powdered sugar and place on top of raspberry jam.

MINI LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and cut 2 3/4-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or spade shaped cutter. Place all the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.
• Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread raspberry preserves on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar and press the flat sides together, with the raspberry preserves in the middle and the confectioners' sugar on the top.

LINZER TART SQUARES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Using an electric mixer on low speed, cream the butter and both sugars together to a smooth and creamy consistency. Slowly add one egg at a time, letting each egg incorporate fully into the creamed sugar mixture before adding the next. Stop the machine, scrape down the sides of a bowl with a spatula, reset the machine on low, and add the salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and allpurpose flour. Continue mixing for several minutes until the flour is fully incorporated. With the mixer still running, add the ground almond flour and allow it to become fully incorporated before removing from the mixer.
• Turn the dough out onto a board that has been dusted with flour. Pat the dough down using your hands and divide it into two pieces. Using a rolling pin, roll the first piece into a 1/4 inchthick rectangularshaped piece that will fit on a cookie sheet or into a 9 by 13 baking pan. Roll out the second piece of dough to the same thickness, then cut it into 1/2-inch wide strips with a crinkleedge cutter. These strips will be used to form the lattice crust.
• Place the solid piece of dough on a lightly buttered cookie sheet or baking pan. Spread the raspberry jam evenly across the dough's surface. Use the cut strips of dough to form an open latticework crust over the top of the jam. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into 11/2to 2inch square bar cookies.

LINZER TARTS

Steps:

• Beat butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in 1/2 cup flour, the ground almonds, and cinnamon. Mix in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the mixture becomes a slightly stiff dough.
• Shape the dough into a ball; divide it in half. Wrap both halves in wax paper or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough into a sheet 1/8 inch thick. With a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut as many circles from the sheet as you can. Knead the leftover scraps of dough into a ball and roll it out again into a 1/8 inch sheet. Cut out more circles. You should now have about 12 circles.
• Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch of space between them. Refrigerate while working with remaining dough.
• Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the other half of the dough, but after placing the second batch on the baking sheet, cut out the center of each circle with a 1/2 inch cookie cutter.
• Bake cookies in preheated oven until light brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes.
• Spread a thin coating of jam on each of the cookie rounds. Set a cutout cookie on top of each, pressing the two together so they make a sandwich. Spoon a dab of jam into the opening of each tart and sprinkle the tops with confectioners' sugar before serving.

LINZER TORTE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Mix together flour, sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and butter in a bowl until crumbly.
• Press 2/3 of mixture into an ungreased 9x9-inch baking pan.
• Spread preserves over crust.
• Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over the top of preserves, patting mixture down lightly.
• Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown.
• Cool completely before cutting into bars.

EASY LINZERTORTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine flour, almonds, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in egg. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just until the mixture comes together to form a dough.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Remove one-third dough, and set aside. Roll out remaining dough to 1/8 inch thick. Fit into a 9-inch square or round tart pan, pressing into corners and sides. Using a paring knife, trim the dough flush with edges of pan, and patch any holes or tears with extra dough.
• Roll out reserved dough into a rectangle at least 13 inches long and 1/8 inch thick. Cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Transfer to a baking sheet; refrigerate, along with shell in pan, 30 minutes.
• Over medium heat, melt the raspberry jam in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat, strain through a fine sieve, and let the jam cool slightly.
• Remove tart pan from refrigerator, and pour jam into shell. Remove dough strips from refrigerator, and arrange over the top in a lattice pattern. Trim the excess dough, and press ends into edge of shell to adhere. Bake until pastry is golden brown and jam is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust top with confectioners' sugar, and serve.

LINZERTORTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; toast, stirring occasionally, until skins begin to split, about 15 minutes. Immediately rub hazelnuts vigorously in a clean kitchen towel to remove skins (as much as will come off easily). Let cool.
• In a food processor, pulse hazelnuts and almonds until finely ground. (Be careful not to overprocess; you don't want the mixture to become a paste.) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nut mixture; set aside.
• In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and beat 1 minute to combine. With mixer on low speed, add ground nuts and flour mixture all at once.
• Divide dough in half. Set a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using your fingers, press 1 dough half into tart pan. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, roll remaining dough half between 2 sheets of parchment paper lightly dusted with flour to a 12-inch round; place on a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Using an offset spatula, spread jam evenly over chilled dough in tart pan; set aside. Using a fluted pastry wheel, cut 3/4-inch-wide strips from chilled round of dough. Arrange strips on top of jam in a lattice pattern. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until torte is golden brown all over, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Remove ring and cool torte completely. Torte can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, dust with confectioners' sugar, if using.