This is an original Austrian Linzer Cookies recipe fully translated into English. Super soft and buttery cookies which melt in your mouth. Intense in flavor.
Linzer Cookies are soft, buttery, and full of flavor. These are traditional Christmas cookies here in Austria. You can get them everywhere, literally. It's funny that you can buy them all year long, not just at Christmas, though they are considered as Christmas cookies.
They are soft, buttery, and melt in your mouth. The dough contains almonds, lemon juice, and cinnamon, and the baked cookies are filled with apricot jam.
When it comes to apricot jam, here in Austria it is popular to add a splash of rum to the jam. If you want to do that as well, take ½ cup of jam and 1-2 tablespoon of rum depending on your preference.
Making the dough is as easy as making any regular cookie dough. Start with mixing the butter until it is creamy. Then add powdered sugar, followed by egg yolks. Stir in vanilla, salt, lemon juice, and cinnamon. In the end, add flour and almond flour.
For further processing, it is the easiest when you divide the dough into two and form into discs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let chill at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
I highly recommend using a kitchen scale and weighing the ingredients. Cups differ in size, and too much of (almond) flour would dry them out. If you use cups instead of a kitchen scale, spoon and level the dry ingredients into the cup.
Another importance to say is that they don’t spread during baking. They stay in shape as you cut them. Use any cookie cutter you like.
Storage
They should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They stay fresh for up to one week.
Freezing
When freezing the unbaked dough, place the wrapped dough disks into a zip-lock bag and remove as much air as possible. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight. In a direct comparison between fresh and frozen dough, you will notice that the frozen dough leads to a tad drier cookies. It freezes well for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze leftovers. Therefore, wrap each cookie separately in plastic wrap tightly and put it into zip-lock bags. Remove as much air as possible from the bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap, and let them sit on the counter for about 1-2 hours.
The softest and best Linzer Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (226g)
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted (120g)
- 2 large egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 vanilla bean* (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (30ml)
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (300g)
- 1 cup almond flour, spooned and leveled (100g)
- ½ cup jam of your choice (160g)
- OPTIONAL powdered sugar for decoration
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, mix butter on medium speed until creamy for about 1-2 minutes. Add sugar and mix to combine. Stir in egg yolks until combined. Add salt, cinnamon, Â vanilla*, and lemon juice and mix just until incorporated. Stir in flour and almond flour on low speed to combine. Divide the dough into two and form into 1 inch thick discs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.Â
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line 2 or 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- On a lightly floured surface roll out dough discs into a ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookies with a 2-inch cookie cutter of your choice and place on the prepared baking sheets with about 1-2 inch space in-between. You should end up with about 64 cookies. Bake one sheet after another for 9-10 minutes until they look dry on the surface. Allow cooling on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Fill cooled cookies with jam by spreading jam on the bottom of one cookie and place another on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Video
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Rebekah
Super easy to follow, cookies came out beautifully and filled them with a homemade Violet jelly (not jam but still good).
Never made these before but will definitely be using this recipe again! 🥰
Wish I could post pics
Scott Ryan Garrett
Bellissimo
Kathleen
Made these Linzer cookies for Valentines Day today and they are fabulous!! Dreamy depth of flavor is definitely enhanced by the lemon juice. Best of all, they are beautiful!! Love, Love, LOVE these cookies and will definitely add them to my favorite cookie recipes!
Rose
Made these for the first time this year for Christmas. Absolutely melt in the mouth delicious, my whole family loved them and they will be added to my essential Christmas baking list. I used my homemade raspberry jam. Five stars!
Ainslee
My only complaint would be that they are too lemony for me, next time I definitely need to halve it. the lemon is kind of overpoweringly sour.
Lauren G.
These were amazing. So soft and flavorful. I gave these to friends with a bunch of other holiday cookies, and there were the cookies that everyone raved about. My one friend called them "revelatory." I don't disagree! This is a keeper, for sure!
Amy Lynn Daugherty
These are amazing. They melt in your mouth! I got tons of compliments from coworkers. In fact they were hinting for me to make them again this year, so I did!
Tracie
My daughter has a nut allergy and I cannot use almond flour. Can I use just all-purpose flour? If so, please advise amount. Thank you!
Sabine
In this case, it would be better to make regular sugar cookies and fill them with jam if desired. Almond flour is an essential ingredient and replacing it with flour wouldn't yield good results. I'm sorry.
Sara
I’d like to use a homemade cranberry orange jam as the filling. Do you think I could use fresh squeezed orange juice in place of the lemon juice ingredients or could the lemon juice be removed entirely? Thanks!
Sabine
Yes, orange juice will work great. It will fit great to your jam.