These Linzer biscuits are a hugely popular treat in Germany and Austria and it’s not surprising why! Made up of two soft and buttery almond cookies, sandwiched together with raspberry jam and finished off with a light dusting of icing sugar, they look picture perfect on every table.
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 Linzer cookies are filled with a tart red currant 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 you need for these biscuits?
Round fluted cookie cutters – I used a small roughly 2cm heart cutter for the centres and round fluted ones for the tops and bases but any shape can be used
Stand mixer with the dough handle attached (optional)
Baking paper
Small sieve
What ingredients do you 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 get 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 almondy notes which pair perfectly with the fruity flavours in the jam
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 eleasticity and helping to hold everything togething 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 ove the biscuits to give them the final touches
Raspberry Jam or Gelee – Any flavour jam such as strawberry or raspberry can be used for these Linzer, but I prefer to use a raspberry gelee. A gelee is similar to a jam and is usually found in the same section in the supermarket. A gelee or jelly, is brighter in colour, more intense in flavour and spreads evenly around the base of the biscuit after being warmed slightly in a saucepan. It is also free of seeds or clumpy bits of fruit which adds to the perfect layer
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.
Heat up your raspberry gelee in a saucepan before spreading onto the base of the biscuit. This makes the gelee much easier to spread evenly and helps to avoid the jelly leaking out of the sides. Try to place a blob of in the center of the cookie and leave a border around the edges to allow for the jelly to spread when you place the top biscuit on top.
I like my Linzers to be around 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.
Linzer Cookies
Ingredients
- 250 g gluten-free plain flour blend
- 100 g ground almonds
- 100 g caster sugar
- 125 g unsalted butter softened
- 1 medium egg
- 1 medium egg yolk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp Xanthan Gum
- 50 g raspberry jam or gelee
- icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150°C Fan and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined.
- Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla paste and whisk until well combined. Try not to overmix as an over aerated mixture will give too much rise to the cookies.
- Whisk together the flour, ground almonds, salt and xanthan gum and add to the wet mixture until a soft dough forms. If using a stand mixer, the dough handle attachment can be used.
- Roll the dough out to a 5mm thickness between two pieces of baking paper so as to avoid using any extra flour as this will dry out the dough. Place the rolled out dough into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Once chilled, cut out using a large heart cutter for the base and top cookies, and a slightly smaller heart cutter to cut a star out of the center of each top cookie. Then place on the baking tray at 1 inch intervals.
- Gather any cut-offs into a ball of dough and place in the fridge to chill between batches.
- Bake the biscuits on the middle shelf for 8-10 minutes. The biscuits will still be pale in colour but starting to turn golden around the edges.
- Allow the cookies to cool for several minutes before transferring them to cool completely on a cooling rack before filling. Once cooled, dust the top cookies with a sprinkling of icing sugar.
- Heat up the raspberry jam in a saucepan on a low heat until it has a more spreadable consistency. Take care not to overheat, you don't want a jam that is too runny!
- Use a teaspoon to spread a small amount of jam on the base cookies, taking care to leave a border to allow for spread. Place the top cookies on top of the base cookies and set aside to set before enjoying.
Notes
- 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.
- Heat up your raspberry gelee in a saucepan before spreading onto the base of the biscuit. This makes the gelee much easier to spread evenly and helps to avoid the jelly leaking out of the sides. Try to place a blob of in the center of the cookie and leave a border around the edges to allow for the jelly to spread when you place the top biscuit on top.
- I like my Linzers to be around 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.
