The
recipe is from
King Arthur Baking, one of our most trusted sources for reliable ingredients, recipes, advice and inspiration. Did you know you can dial up or chat online with their
Baker’s Hotline any time? Their staff is deeply knowledgable and so kind.
Here are Frances’ extra tips for making superior Linzer Cookies:
- If you don’t have a mixer, you can make the recipe using a sturdy bowl, a wooden spoon, and some elbow grease. It will take a bit longer, but it’s not difficult.
- Hazelnut flour is a lovely substitute for almond flour. Frances’ very favorite filling is sour cherry jam.
- It is important that the cookies are all the same size and thickness, so they cook at the same speed. When you roll out the dough, aim for a 6-X-10-inch rectangle to get the recommended yield of 15 cookies. (Of course you could make yours any size or shape you desire!)
Frances reminisced with us about holiday baking at her childhood home in Ireland:
“At Christmas, my mother’s kitchen was a hive of activity. She made mountains of cookies, traditional Christmas cakes, and puddings to give as gifts. Many of the cookies we tasted only at Christmas, recipes gleaned from magazines and friends over the years with whimsical names such as Cornish Fairings, Yum Yums, Anzacs, Melting Moments, and Wellington Squares.
Along with the baking, she made wreaths, swags, and table centerpieces for neighbors and friends. We ate our meals surrounded by trays of cooling cookies, stepping over buckets of greenery and boxes of candles, ribbons, pine cones, and teazels to get to the stove.
Linzer cookies were not part of her repertoire but I know she would have loved them – buttery, nutty, and lightly spiced.”
Whatever you’re baking this December, we’re
here to help. We’d love to see your cookie creations tagged with #TCKatHome and #TalkCookbooks. We’ll have lots more cookies for you in next week’s post!
