Linzer cookies are jam sandwich cookies that can be made anytime of the year. Two buttery sugar cookies with any flavor of jam layered in between, these babies are irresistible. Cut them out in any shape to celebrate any holiday or special occasion.
Everyone has an opinion on what their favorite cookie is. For me, I have never met a chocolate chip cookie that I didn’t like. Zero willpower, my friends. My daughter, on the other hand, is all about my easy oatmeal raisin cookies – a chocolate chip cookie lover’s biggest nightmare.
Then there is my chocoholic son who can devour a batch of my brownie cookies, while my eldest son has taken on the quest to find the best snickerdoodle recipe. But, all three of them agree that Christmas can not be Christmas without my gingerbread olive oil cookies.
Which brings me to my second favorite cookie combination, jam and cookies. Hello, Linzer cookies!
Why you must try this recipe
As a true jam lover, I have all sorts of homemade jam recipes, like . And I have used both homemade and store bought jam to make another favorite cookie, thumbprint cookies. So swoon-worthy!
Today’s jam cookie is a sandwich cookie: two buttery sugar cookies with delicious jam in between. Typically these kinds of cookies are made with shortbread. But as my cookie connoisseur kids informed me, they turn out hard and cracker like.
That’s a no-go for my family. This recipe uses the best sugar cookie recipe as the base. The result, buttery perfection that have just enough crisp without chipping your tooth.
If you love baking cookies for the holidays, these beauties can be made all year long. The top of the sandwich cookie usually has a cut out so you can see the jam inside. So you can make heart cutouts for Valentine’s Day and use any red jam, like raspberry or strawberry rhubarb jam.
Cut out little pumpkins for fall or Halloween and use orange marmalade, peach jam or apricot preserves. Cut out skeletons or skulls and use a dark jam like blueberry preserves or blackberry jam.
And of course for Christmas, you can cut out little Christmas trees, gingerbread men or whatever you want. You also don’t need a holiday to enjoy these cookies. Cut out little circles and enjoy. Again, just be creative and have fun with it!
The best part about these cookies is that you don’t need to make any royal icing or fuss with piping bags to decorate them. They are festive and fun on their own.
Ingredients needed
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- Butter: Yes, I love baking with olive oil and I have a fabulous olive oil sugar cookie recipe in my olive oil cookbook. But this recipe uses butter for the fat and it is adds wonderful flavor.
- Egg: Large eggs are the standard in baking and is used in this recipe.
- Milk: I have substitute regular whole milk with almond milk to make these cookies and it turns out just fine.
- Fruit jam: You can use any variety of fruit jam for these sandwich cookies. Use homemade jam or store bought. I like to use a variety so your guests can choose from different colors or flavors.
- Powdered sugar: I use powdered sugar instead of flour when rolling the cookie dough. I also dust the top of the cookies with powdered sugar (which is optional).
- Pantry staples: All purpose flour, baking powder, granulated sugar and salt.
Tools to Use
Step-by-step directions
1. Using a stand or hand mixer, whisk butter and sugar until creamed and light yellow in color. Add egg and milk to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.
2. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Put mixer on low speed, then gradually add flour mixture, and beat until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
3. Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper and work into a ball. Divide the dough in half, roll into a ball and press flat into a thick disc. Wrap each half in parchment paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.
4. Sprinkle flat work surface with powdered sugar and place on disc of dough on top. I love my silicone pastry mat. Rub rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out dough until ยผ-ยฝ centimeter thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking.
If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. If dough is sticky, roll dough between two sheets of parchment paper or two silicone baking mats.
7. Cut dough into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on a baking sheet parchment paper or silicone baking mat. An offset spatula works great for this task. Use small cookie cutters to cut center out of half of the cookies. Collect the scraps of the dough, roll flat and cut out more cookies.
8. Bake until cookie edges are just beginning to turn brown around the edges. The time will vary depending on how thick and how large the cookies are. Let the hot cookies sit on the baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then transfer using a small spatula to a cooling rack.
9. Once cookies have cooled completely, dust the cookies with the center cut out with powdered sugar through a fine mesh sieve. You can also use these handy dandy powdered sugar shakers.
Spread jam on the whole uncut cookies, making sure there is a nice blob in the center. Press the sugar dusted cut cookie over the jam cookie and let it sit for a bit so the jam can set and harden a little.
Expert tips and recipe FAQs
Do I have to chill sugar cookie dough? One reason for chilled dough is to insure that the dough is stiff enough for rolling and doesn’t get sticky. Also, chilled cookie dough will hold its shape better in the oven while it bakes, which is important cut cookies.
This means sharp and crisp edges on your stars, Christmas trees, hearts and the likes. If you are cutting several trays of cookies and are waiting for the oven, store the trays in the fridge. And if your kitchen is hot from the oven or because of your weather, your cookie dough will soften faster and chilling it is more important.
This cookie dough is not super sticky, especially if you dust it with powdered sugar. You can also roll the sugar cookie dough between two sheets of parchment paper or silicone mats.
This prevents sticking to the work surface without adding too much flour or powdered sugar to the cookies. Overall, I find it to be a cleaner and less fussy experience.
Although the cookie shape for Linzer cookies is usually round, there are no hard rules you have to follow. Make them round or scalloped edges like I did, or make squares, hearts, pumpkins, trees… whatever shape you want!
The center cut out can also be whatever shape you want and whatever size you want. If you want more of the jam showing, using these large mini cookie cutters. I like the small peek-a-boo small cutouts and used these mini cutters. I got mine from the craft store in the polymer clay section.
These small cookie cutters are also great for cutting out designs using pie dough. So if you buy a set, know that you can use the for other baking fun, as well.
For extra flavor, you can add ยฝ-teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract to the cookie dough. Instead of jam, you can also schmear my olive oil lemon curd between the two cookies. If you do this, grate a little lemon zest to the cookie dough.
If you use curd, the cookies will need to be refrigerated until you are ready to serve them. This would be fabulous for Spring or Easter themed cookies!
Once baked, place your jam cookies in a sealed container and store in a cool, dry cupboard. They can last like this a week. You can also freeze the finished cookies for up to 3 months. To thawย baked cookies, remove from the containers and let the cookies thaw at room temperature. This prevents condensation from forming, making the cookies soggy.
You can plan ahead for your holiday baking by freezing your cookie dough for up to 3 months. Just remember you need to thaw them out a little before you can roll out the dough, otherwise youโll have some really tired arms and wrists from the attempt!
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Jam Sandwich Cookies (Linzer cookies)
Linzer cookies are jam sandwich cookies that can be made anytime of the year. Two buttery sugar cookies with any flavor of jam layered in between, these babies are irresistible. Cut them out in any shape to celebrate any and every holiday or special occasion.
Ingredients
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- ยพ teaspoon baking powder
- ยผ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg large
- 1 TBS milk
- ยผ cup powdered sugar, divided
- ยผ cup jam, any flavor
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- Using a stand mixer, whisk butter and sugar until creamed and light yellow in color.
- Add egg and milk to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.
- Put mixer on low speed, then gradually add flour mixture, and beat until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
- Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper and work into a ball. Divide the dough in half, roll into a ball and press flat into a thick disc. Wrap each half in parchment paper and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Sprinkle flat work surface with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar and place on disc of dough on top.
- Rub rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out dough until ยผ to ยฝ-centimeter thick.
- Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. If dough is sticky, roll dough between two sheets of parchment paper or two silicone baking mats.
- Cut dough into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Use small cookie cutters to cut center out of half of the cookies. Collect the scraps of the dough, roll flat and cut out more cookies.
- Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookie edges are just beginning to turn brown around the edges. My cookies were a little thick, about ยฝ-centimeter, and took 10-11 minutes for them to bake.
- Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then transfer using a small spatula to a cooling rack.
- Once cookies have cooled completely, dust the cookies with the center cut out with powdered sugar through a fine mesh sieve.
- Spread jam on the whole uncut cookies, making sure there is a nice blob in the center. Press the sugar dusted cut cookie over the jam cookie and let it sit for a bit so the jam can set and harden a little.
Notes
Store in airtight container for up to 1 week. You can also freeze the sugar cookies once they have been baked and cooled completely. They need to be frozen individually first.ย Place the cookies on a baking sheet not touching each other and freeze until frozen solid. Once frozen, transfer them to freezer safe containers.ย
To thawย baked cookies, remove from the containers and let the cookies thaw at room temperature. This prevents condensation from forming, making the cookies soggy.
You can freeze your sugar cookie dough for up to 3 months. Just remember you need to thaw them out a little before you can roll out the dough.
The amount of cookies you make vary based on how thick you roll them out, how big the cookies are and how large the cut outs are. My cookie rounds were 2-inches wide and they were rolled a little thicker than usual, about ยฝ-centimeter. This yielded 30 sandwich cookies.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
30Serving Size:
1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 139Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 36mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 0gSugar: 9gProtein: 2g
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