Cranberry Linzer Torte Food

CRANBERRY-WALNUT LINZER TORTE

Steps:

• Combine the cranberries, three-fourths cup sugar, apple juice, one-half teaspoon cinnamon and cloves in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium heat about 15 minutes, until the mixture becomes thick like a jam. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Combine the walnuts, flour, cocoa, remaining one-fourth cup sugar, salt and remaining one-half teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl or a food processor. Add the butter, cut it in by hand or pulse it briefly in the food processor. Add the egg and water, mixing lightly to form a dough or, in a food processor, add the egg and water through the feed tube with the processor running.
• Gather the dough together and divide it into two parts, one slightly larger than the other. Pat the larger part into a flattened circle and transfer it to an 8- or 9-inch round cake pan with a removable bottom. Pat the dough evenly into the pan to cover the bottoms and sides up to about one-and-a-half inches high. Spread the cranberry jam into the pastry shell.
• Roll or pat the remaining dough into a rectangle about 8 by 5 inches. Slice it into about eight strips one-half-inch wide and arrange them over the cranberry filling in a lattice pattern, pressing the ends of the strips into the rim of the dough. Press a pattern into the rim of the dough with the tines of a fork.
• Bake for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake about 25 minutes longer, until the dough is lightly browned and the filling is bubbly.
• Allow to cool, then dust with sifted confectioners' sugar before serving.

CRANBERRY-GINGER LINZER TORTE COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine cranberries, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, water, ginger, and salt for filling in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Lower heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until cranberries burst. Continue cooking, mashing fruit a bit with the back of a spoon, until thick as jam, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat to cool completely. Can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
• Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, and salt for cookies together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Mix butter and white sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until just combined. Add the vanilla. Gradually add in flour mixture on low speed just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough ¼-inch thick and cut into 2-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round into a desired shape. Place all cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.
• While cookies chill, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges just begin to brown or the cookies are crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven; let cookies cool for 1 minute on the pan, then remove to a wire rack and allow to cool completely, 15 to 20 minutes.
• When the cookies have cooled, place 1 teaspoon of filling on the flat side of each whole cookie, spreading it out to the edges with the back of the spoon. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar. Place the sugared tops on the filled bottoms.