Raspberry Linzer Cookies
Buttery, nutty shortbread sandwich cookies with a jewel of raspberry preserves peeking through a delicate cut-out center.
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional flour for rolling the cookies
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted and ground
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup raspberry preserves
- powdered sugar
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spread the chopped walnuts in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and toast for 5 to 6 minutes, just until they turn fragrant and lightly golden — watch them closely, since nuts can go from toasted to burnt in the space of a minute. Let them cool, then pulse them in a food processor until finely ground.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter on its own first until smooth. Add the granulated sugar and continue beating for 5 to 8 minutes, until the mixture turns pale and noticeably fluffy, pausing once partway through to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula so everything creams evenly.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground toasted walnuts, cinnamon, and salt until evenly combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter, then switch to a rubber spatula and fold everything together by hand, mixing slowly just until no streaks of flour remain — overworking the dough here can leave the finished cookies tough rather than tender.
- Lay two large sheets of wax paper on your counter and dust each lightly with flour. Divide the dough in half, press one portion onto each sheet, dust the tops with a little more flour, and roll each portion out to about 1/8 inch thick. Top each with a second sheet of wax paper, transfer to the refrigerator, and chill for 2 hours — this firms the dough enough to cut clean shapes later.
- Once the dough is thoroughly chilled, preheat the oven again to 350°F if it has cooled down in the meantime. Working with one dough sheet at a time, gently peel back the wax paper and use a round cutter to stamp out as many cookies as the sheet allows, taking care not to crease or crack the dough. Using a small flower or decorative cutter, cut a center shape out of half of the rounds — these become the tops — and set the scraps aside to reroll later.
- Arrange the cut cookies in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving a little space between each, and bake for about 12 minutes until lightly golden at the edges. Start checking around the 7-minute mark, since oven temperatures vary and you want them just barely colored rather than deeply browned.
- Let the baked cookies rest on the tray for a few minutes to firm up before gently transferring them to a flat surface or wire rack to cool completely. Gather the scraps and reroll them to cut more cookies, chilling the dough again for 15 to 20 minutes on wax paper first if it's turned too soft to handle, then repeat the cutting and baking process with the second disk of dough from the refrigerator.
- Once all the cookies have cooled completely, set the cut-out top cookies on a separate tray and dust them generously with powdered sugar before assembling — doing this now, rather than after filling, keeps the sugar from clumping into the raspberry preserves. Spoon about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of raspberry preserves onto the center of each solid bottom cookie.
- Gently set a powdered-sugar-dusted top cookie squarely over each preserves-topped bottom, pressing lightly so the jam peeks through the cutout center. Serve them freshly assembled, once the preserves have had a moment to set.
Chef's Note: These delicate sandwich cookies take their name and style from the classic nut-based shortbread pastry, and the ground toasted walnuts are what give the dough its subtle nutty depth alongside a tender, almost sandy crumb. Keeping the dough properly chilled before cutting is non-negotiable here — clean, precise edges depend on it, and dough that's too soft will smear rather than cut cleanly under the cookie cutter.
Feel free to swap the raspberry preserves for apricot, blackberry, or any thick jam you have on hand — just make sure it isn't too runny, or it will seep out from between the cookies. For the crispest texture, store the unfilled cookie halves in an airtight container and assemble the sandwiches closer to serving time, since the preserves will gradually soften the cookies the longer they sit together. Note that the hour of active time above doesn't include the 2-hour dough chill, so plan on roughly 3 hours from start to finished cookie.
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