These lemon curd linzer cookie sandwiches are bursting with citrus flavour in every bite. Combined with the light and delicate flavours of the buttery almond cookies, it makes for most the perfect pairing! The dough is incredibly simple and easy to make and with a baking time of only 8 minutes, these little lemon treats will be ready to melt-in-your-mouth in no time! These little biscuits are perfect for springtime baking and look like little edible daisies! Take a look a my 100% gluten-free lemon curd linzer recipe below.
Linzers can be enjoyed all year round but are traditionally eaten around the Christmas season in Germany and Austria. They are thought to originate from the city of Linz, in Austria and are typically filled with fruity preserves such as strawberry or raspberry jam. Linzer cookies are incredibly easy to make and can be filled with any jam or buttercreams, check out my Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies if you want to change things up a bit. My Christmas Linzer Stars are filled with a red currant gelee which is a lovely bright and smooth jelly-like jam with a hugely intense flavour and for these Valentine’s Linzers, I used a raspberry gelee.
These cookies are one of my favourite recipes on the blog. After a lot of trial and error, experimenting with different flours and quantities, I finally managed to create a gluten-free dough for Linzers that hold their shape 100%! A no-spread dough is imperative for Linzers in order to preserve any intricate shapes and to prevent those holes in the middle from spreading into one misshapen cookie.
How easy are these biscuits to make?
The dough is simple and quick to make in one bowl, with readily available ingredients. After chilling for 30 minutes, the dough can be cut out and the biscuits can be placed straight into the oven to bake, for only 8 minutes! Let them cool, fill them with your favourite jam, buttercream, chocolate spread or caramel and they’ll be ready to pop in your mouth in no time! Simple!
What special equipment do I need for these biscuits?
- 1.5 inch round fluted cookie cutter plus 1 small circular cutter for the centre holes
- Stand mixer with the dough handle attached (optional)
- Baking paper
- Small sieve
What ingredients do I need?
Butter – Unsalted butter adds the wonderful buttery taste to these biscuits. Cold butter is fine for the dough but you might want to take it out of the fridge a few minutes prior to baking so that is it not too hard to work in the mixer when creaming with the sugar
Caster sugar – White refined caster sugar or fine caster sugar is preferred
Eggs – Medium free range eggs at room temperature or cold can be used. Eggs add structure to the biscuits, helping to stick them together
Gluten free flour – A gluten free flour blend such as Doves Farm Plain Flour with added Xanthan gum or Schär- Mix C is perfect for this recipe, otherwise a standard flour blend will work fine. The most important factor is that the flour blend does not contain baking soda or baking powder. This will make the biscuits rise and spread too much!
Vanilla paste – Vanilla essence, extract or vanilla paste can be used as long as it is gluten-free
Ground almonds – Blanched ground almonds look better and leave the biscuits looking nice and pale but unblanched will work just as good. Almonds are essential in giving these biscuits the light nutty notes which pair perfectly with the fruity flavours in the lemon curd
Xanthan gum – Xanthan gum is essential for most gluten-free recipes and there are no exceptions here. Xanthan Gum is a gluten replacement for gluten-free bakes, replacing the lost elasticity and helping to hold everything together and give it a bit more stretch. Without Xanthan Gum, gluten-free bakes risk being too dry, crumbly and falling apart at the slightest touch
Salt – A pinch of salt is always needed in order to offset the sweetness of the sugar
Icing sugar – Standard icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar is dusted lightly over the biscuits to give them the final touches
Lemon zest – Adding lemon zest to the dough adds that extra layer of zesty-ness to these biscuits, creating a more powerful lemon flavour for each scrumptious bite
Lemon curd – Use your favourite good quality lemon curd for the filling. This is the star of the show after all!
Tips and Tricks
Chilling the dough for at least 30 minutes to an hour before rolling out is imperative if you want to avoid a biscuit that spreads and comes out of the oven all misshapen. I like to chill my dough between batches, gathering up the cut-offs and wrapping it in clingfilm again before placing in the fridge. Do this whenever you think your dough might be getting too warm to work with.
Rolling the dough out between two sheets of baking paper will make it easier to cut the cookies after chilling and prevent having to use a floured surface to avoid the dough sticking which will make the dough drier.
I like my Linzers to be around 4-5mm in thickness but if you’d prefer slightly thinner cookies, just remember that they will bake more quickly and the baking time will need to be reduced accordingly
Lemon Curd Linzers
Ingredients
For the Linzers
- 250 g gluten-free plain flour blend
- 100 g ground almonds blanched
- 100 g white caster sugar
- 125 g unsalted butter softened
- 1 medium egg
- 1 medium egg yolk
- zest from 1 lemon
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp Xanthan Gum
- ¼ tsp salt
For the filling
- 4-5 tbsp lemon curd
- icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150°C fan and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined,125 g unsalted butter, 100 g white caster sugar
- Add the egg, egg yolk, lemon zest and vanilla and whisk again until thoroughly incorporated. Do not overmix as an over aerated mixture will give too much rise to the biscuits.1 medium egg, 1 medium egg yolk, zest from 1 lemon, ½ tsp vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl. combine the flour, ground almonds, salt and Xanthan Gum and whisk until combined. Add the to wet ingredients and mix on a medium speed until a sticky dough forms.250 g gluten-free plain flour blend, 100 g ground almonds, ½ tsp Xanthan Gum, ¼ tsp salt
- Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge to film up for a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and leave on the kitchen counter for 5 minutes before cutting the ball of dough in half and rolling out each half between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of approximately 4-5mm. Try to avoid using any extra flour as this will dry out the dough too quickly.
- Place the rolled out dough back in the fridge for a further 15-30 minutes to chill. This will help when cutting out the biscuits in the next step.
- Remove from the fridge and cut out the biscuits using a 1 ½ inch round fluted cookie cutter. You will need 1 top biscuit and 1 bottom biscuit for each linzer sandwich. Use a smaller circular cutter to cut out a hole in the centre of each top biscuit.
- Place the biscuits on a lined baking tray, leaving 2cm gaps between each one.
- Bake on the middle shelf for around 8 minutes. The edges of the biscuits will be starting to turn a golden brown colour, but the biscuits should still generally be pale in colour.
- Allow the biscuits to cool on the baking tray, before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely to room temperature.
- Once cooled, dust a layer of icing sugar over the top biscuits using a small sieve, and then spoon a small teaspoon of lemon curd onto the bottom layer biscuits before sandwiching them together.4-5 tbsp lemon curd, icing sugar
Notes
