Linzer Cookies Recipe (2024)

It helps to boil moisture out the jam you use until it has a very thick consistency. I used storebought jam. The texture won't be what you expect in jam sandwich cookie if you use the jam straight from the jar.Like others have said here, I needed a lot of fridge/freezer space and several metal pans to keep the dough cold to work with. Using pans lined with parchment while baking worked much better than using a Silpat, which made the cookies spread too much.

I love linzer cookies. I agree with some of the reviewers re the butter, and you can get away with using much less (I use two sticks instead of three). I toast the almond flour; it makes the cookies even more delicious (I order almond flour from amazon, great prices). This is a really scrummy (as my fav baker Mary Berry would put it !) European cookie, not too sweet, just right.

This recipe is almost identical to the one I found in a 1990 Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookie Magazine. They call it Ischel Tarts (Ischler Torchen) and have it in the Austrian Cookie section. They recommend baking at 350 and say it takes 7 - 8 minutes. The 325 you recommend took way too long for me (22 minutes!) so I tried it at 350 - It took 12 minutes - much better. They also recommend 1/2 teaspoon of jam for each cookie. I thought 1 teaspoon was way too much. Overall, a great recipe!

Actually, I would divide the dough into 4 parts instead of 2. That way, when you’re rolling out, it’s easy to use 1/8” bands on the rolling pin to get the correct height as well as fit better in the fridge/freezer before cutting out.

I have an Hungarian recipe for these cookies (Ischl Tartlets). The proportions in the NYT recipe are strikingly off, but the baking temp. is correct. My recipe has close to 1:1 flour:ground almonds (2 cups flour:1 3/4 cups ground almonds), 2 1/2 sticks of butter (1/2 pound 4 Tbs), and much less sugar (only 2/3 cup) and cinnamon (1/8 tsp). The dough is sufficiently chilled in 20 minutes in the fridge and easy to work with. Perfectly baked in 15 minutes at 325F. Way less jam (~5 Tb/12 cookies).

To Jo Bay......Raspberry jam is the traditional jam used in Linzer cookies, just buy the seedless raspberry jam.

Alison Roman must live in an alternate reality where her recipes work ...all I can say I good thing you’re reading these comments first

I think there's a mistake with the almond meal/flour. 155g of whole almonds will still equal 155g when ground into meal.The problem appears to be that it is assumed the ground almonds will decrease in volume to around 3/4 cup. (75g is based on unpacked "airy" almond meal). In fact the vol increases when ground. However, it will be around 210ml if "packed". Density of almond meal varies between around 0.37 and 0.64 (packed.) Thus, advice should be 155g almond flour, NOT 75g and NOT 3/4 cup.

These take much longer than 12-15 mins to cook at 325o. Closer to 20 I would say if not more.

P.S. The NYTimes thinks this is one of the "most effortless" treats you can make. It is not.

This recipe is all wrong. Too much butter. It was a mess. Use two sticks instead of three.

Use almond flour

Wouldn't it be easier to roll into a log and refrigerate and then slice off rounds?

Are you serious? Rolling the dough out and then cutting out circles would take one-tenth the time. Seriously. I make these cookies twice a year. Just roll and then cut out. Easy peasy.

lovely recipe but why did they change the photo? When I made these 6 days ago the photo showed round cookies.

The only change I made, I used hazelnut flour instead of almond flour. So delicious.

Like everyone else noted, this dough was pretty tough to work with but I read the comments and kept switching the doughs in and out of the freezer. Very tasty cookie!!!

So happy I read the comments first. Not an easy cookie but doable. I used one less stick of butter, added more almond flour per another comment (from 75g to 150g based on the whole almond amount if your grind yourself).Rolling out is tough but I split the dough into 3 parts, rolled each out, then stuck in the freezer before cutting. I then chilled the cut cookies on the tray again before baking to help prevent spread. A lot of effort running to and from the freezer but came out great!

So difficult to roll out. What a mess!

Definitely not a workable dough. I made it in the end but it was labour intensive, and I don’t think worth it. The end product is yummy and nice but didn’t have any wow factor to really justify the labour involved. I chilled the dough for a few hours but it was still unworkable. Then I chilled for 3 days. The big saviour was FLOUR. I copiously added flour to the outside of the dough as I rolled it out between parchment sheets and that made it doable to transfer the cookies to the tray.

I wish I had read the notes before embarking on this really difficult recipe. I am a fairly experienced baker but struggled with this dough which is either rock hard when chilled or too sticky. After much trial and error I rolled out the dough when it was relatively soft between parchment as suggested and popped it into the freezer on a cookie sheet to firm up. Then, I loosened the parchment before attempting to cut these out. Alternately, I may try this again by rolling into a log and slicing.

A true labor of love. If I make these again, I would chill the dough for only 30 minutes. Then roll it out. Then freeze the sheets of dough and then cut out. I could barely cut out one cookie before the dough became difficult to work with. But the end product is impressive and delicious. But seriously, ya gotta really love a linzer.

Dough was too sticky and hard to work with. Baking time was way longer than stated time.

Definitely does not work as specified if you expect to roll these out and sandwich together--butter to flour ratio is wrong. Ended up weighing 32g and shaping into balls, thumb-printing and filling with jam (mandarin, for variety, along with raspberry). Great tasting, crunchy edges/softer center. Will look for other recipe for actual Linzer jam-filled cookies.

2 sticks of butterSmaller cookies, Bake 12 minutes @330 F

Last year I found these disappointingly crunchy with the provided instruction (+ a half stick reduction of butter). After sitting, covered, they softened, which I prefer—so if you make the same mistake there's hope! Baking them for less time this year. Per Wendy will probably try 350F for 7-8 mins (maybe 10, but no more than that). I come back to this recipe purely for the Linzer knowledge in the comments section. It also does have a good amount of cinnamon which some recipes skimp on!

"Most effortless." Ha-ha! But it's a good cookie. I used 2 1/2 sticks of butter, following the various comments advising to cut down the 3 sticks to 2. One bit of advice: stick the dough in the freezer regularly--basically every time you touch it once you've begun rolling. I ran out of parchment paper and used waxed, but the parchment paper gives a better result.

Maybe not “easy”, but worth it! These are the stars of my cookie boxes each year. Use all the butter and take the time to refrigerate as needed between steps…you will be rewarded with awesome Linzers!

If you made these during the holiday season as I did, roll and cut your cookies outside! Didn’t need to worry about going back and forth to the fridge when it was 30 degrees out!

Used only 2 sticks of butter, 1/2 lb. Dough was lovely and easy to roll out. As others mentioned 12-15 mins at 325 doesn't work. 15 mins at 350 works. Nice crisp cookies.