Linzer Stars Food

LINZER STAR SANDWICH COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookie batter: In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the butter until smooth. Add the granulated sugar and continue mixing until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, 5 to 8 minutes.
• In another bowl, combine and mix the flour, almonds, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Mix and roll the cookies: Because this dough has a good amount of butter, it needs resting time and it needs to be rolled fairly quickly. Lay three large pieces of wax paper in a single layer on a flat surface. Sprinkle each one with a light coating of flour. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, blend the flour mixture in with the butter. When the ingredients are fully integrated, place one third of the batter on each of the pieces of wax paper. Coat with another light layer of flour and top with another piece of wax paper of the same length to make three dough "sandwiches." Press these wax-paper-and-dough-sandwiches down with your hands until the dough is fairly thin. This will save a lot of time on rolling later on. Place two of them in the refrigerator and work with them one at a time. Roll the first batch into as neat a shape as possible. What matters most is avoiding creases or cracks and getting it to about 1/8 inch in thickness. When the first is rolled, refrigerate it and repeat the same process for the other two. Let them chill at least 10 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Make the cookie bottoms: Remove the first rolled sheet from the refrigerator and cut as many 1 1/2-inch stars (or rounds) as you can. Reserve the scraps in the refrigerator. Arrange the stars neatly in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with the other two sheets, reserving any scraps.
• Make the cookie tops: Cut a star, with the smaller cutter, out of the center of half of all the cookies. Roll the scraps in between two of the pieces of wax paper and cut additional stars, if desired.
• Bake and assemble the cookie sandwiches: Bake the cookies until they are lightly brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the trays from the oven and allow them to cool slightly on the trays for a few minutes before gently transferring them to a flat surface. P
• Place the raspberry jam in a small pot and bring it to a light simmer. Remove from the heat to cool slightly. Spoon 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam on each bottom and place a top star squarely on each. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

LINZER STARS

Steps:

• Pulse flour, almonds, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor until almonds are finely ground (no larger than poppy seeds).
• Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Beat in rum and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add dry ingredients. Beat dough just to blend; gently knead if necessary to form a ball.
• Divide dough in half. Place each half between sheets of parchment or waxed paper. Working with 1 piece at a time, flatten dough into a disk; roll dough, occasionally lifting paper on both sides for easier rolling, until 1/8" thick. Chill dough in paper until very firm, at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Dough can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; keep chilled.
• Arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Working with 1 dough disk at a time, remove top sheet of paper and, using 2" star cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer to baking sheets, placing 1/2" apart; chill. Repeat with remaining dough. Gather scraps; repeat rolling, chilling, and cutting until dough is used.
• Using 1/2" star cookie cutter, cut out a star from the center of half the cookies. Working in batches, bake cookies until light golden brown, dry, and just firm to the touch, 11-13 minutes. (Cookies will firm up as they cool.) Transfer to a wire rack; let cool. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be baked 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
• Bring jam and 1 teaspoon water to a boil in a small saucepan; let cool slightly.
• Arrange whole cookies flat side up. Spoon 1 teaspoon cooled jam in the center of each, dabbing slightly to spread. Arrange cookies with cutouts flat side down on a wire rack; dust with powdered sugar. Set atop whole cookies, lining up star points and allowing jam to push up slightly through center. DO AHEAD: Linzer Stars can be assembled 8 hours ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

LINZER BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position the rack in the middle of the oven.
• Spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Turn oven off since you will not need it on again for at least 45 minutes. Empty nuts onto a folded towel, enclosing them between the folds, and rub them to remove their skins. Transfer the nuts to a strainer and carefully discard the skins. Allow nuts to cool to room temperature.
• Put the hazelnuts in a food processor fitted with the stainless-steel blade and pulse a few times. Add cake flour and process until the nuts are finely ground. Set aside.
• In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and lemon zest on medium speed until light and creamy. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Over medium speed, add the egg and continue mixing for 1 more minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the hazelnut-flour mixture, and continue mixing until well blended into a smooth dough.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions, with 1 portion about 8 ounces or 1/3 of the dough. Transfer to a medium pastry bag fitted with a number 1 plain tip and set aside. With the remaining 2/3 of the dough (about 20 ounces), form into a 1-inch flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• With a marking pen, trace a 16 by 13-inch rectangle shape on parchment paper. Place paper, marked side down, onto a baking sheet. With the reserved dough in the pastry bag, pipe straight parallel lines, about 1-inch apart, inside the marked rectangle. Then pipe a second set of parallel lines at a 45 degree angle to the first set of lines to make a trellis shape. Refrigerate until needed (dough should be well chilled before using).
• With more cake flour, lightly dust a pastry board or work surface with flour. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a rectangular shape, about 15 by 12 inches by 1/4-inch thick. Transfer dough to a parchment lined baking sheet and trim any excess dough to make an even rectangle. Bake for 20 minutes, or until dough starts to color. Remove baking sheet from the oven and transfer to a rack. Leave oven on. Allow dough to cool for at least 10 minutes.
• Spread raspberry jam over the entire surface of the cooled dough. Carefully place the refrigerated trellis-shaped dough over the jam. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden in color. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Trim edges and then cut into 3 by 1-inch bars. Lightly dust bars with powdered sugar.

LINZER STAR CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• In food processor, place almonds and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Cover; process until nuts are finely ground. In small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
• In large bowl, beat butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add nut mixture. Beat in egg, lemon peel and vanilla. On low speed, beat in flour mixture until combined. Shape dough into 2 balls; flatten into rounds; refrigerate 1 hour. Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper. On floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 3-inch star-shaped cutter. Using 1-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out star in center of half of the cookies. On cookie sheets, place 3-inch cookies 1 inch part. Place small stars on separate cookie sheet. Bake 3-inch cookies 7 to 9 minutes, 1-inch cookies 5 to 6 minutes, or just until golden. Remove to cooling racks; cool completely. In small bowl, microwave jelly on High 15 seconds; stir. Spread about 1 teaspoon jelly on each cookie. Top with cutout cookie. Sift powdered sugar over sandwich cookies and small stars. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jelly into center of each sandwich cookie.

LINZER STARS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together hazelnut flour, 2 cups cake flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Pulse pecans and remaining 1/2 cup cake flour in a food processor until finely ground (but not wet); add to bowl with flour mixture.
• Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour mixture until combined. Divide dough in half, shape each half into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out each disk of dough to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Refrigerate on a baking sheet for 20 minutes.
• Cut out star shapes using a 3-inch cutter. Cut a star from the center of half the cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing each 2 inches apart.
• Bake until pale gold, 13 to 14 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets set on wire racks for 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks, and let cool completely.
• Dust cookies with confectioners' sugar. Spread 1/2 teaspoon preserves onto the center of each uncut star; top with cutout stars, offsetting, if desired, to create a "burst."

LINZER "HOLLYWOOD STARS"

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Empty them into a folded kitchen towel, enclosing them between the folds, and rub them to remove their skins. Transfer the nuts to a food processor fitted with the stainless-steel blade and discard the skins. Add the flours. Process until the nuts are finely ground.
• 2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar together at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and lemon zest and continue mixing for 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the nut-flour mixture. Mix just until the mixture comes together into a smooth dough. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and gently press it into a flat disc about 2 inches thick. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours, or preferably overnight.
• 3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into quarters. Place one piece between two sheets of lightly dusted parchment paper and roll out to an even 1/8-inch thickness. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes or longer.
• 4. Preheat the oven to 350° F. with the rack in the lower third. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the freezer, one sheet at a time. Carefully peel the top piece of parchment off the dough and, using a 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out stars of dough. With a 1/2-inch diameter circular cookie cutter, cut out holes from the centers of half of the stars (the holes will make nice mini-cookies).
• 5. Carefully transfer the cookies to the baking sheets, placing them about 1/2 inch apart. If the dough is too soft to transfer easily, return it to the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes. If you need to bake the cookies in batches make sure you let the baking sheets cool before baking each batch. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven until golden brown, 10 to 14 minutes. Slide the parchment onto cooling racks and wait 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely.
• 6. Return the cookies to your work surface. Place a scant teaspoon of jam on each cookie without the holes and spread in an even layer. Generously dust the cookies with the holes with powdered sugar either from a sugar sifter or from a fine-meshed sieve held over the cookies and tapped with your hand, and neatly place them on top of the jam so that the jam pokes out the center.

RASPBERRY LINZER STAR BARS

Steps:

• In a food processor finely grind almonds with confectioners' sugar and transfer to a large bowl. In food processor pulse butter with flour until mixture resembles fine crumbs and add to almond mixture with cornstarch and salt, stirring until combined well.
• In a small bowl beat together egg and lemon juice until blended and stir into flour mixture until combined well. Work mixture with hands until it forms a dough.
• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Pat 1 1/2 cups dough into a disk and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, 20 minutes. Pat remaining dough evenly into a 171/2- by 11-inch jelly-roll pan and spread evenly with jam.
• On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out chilled dough 1/8 inch thick and with a 3/4- to 1 1/2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter (we used 3 different sizes) cut out as many stars as possible. Re-roll scraps and cut out more stars. Arrange stars randomly over jam and carefully brush stars with milk. Sprinkle stars with granulated sugar and bake in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until stars are golden. Cool confection in pan on a rack and cut into 20 bars.

LINZER BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F Grease a 9x9" square pan.
• Cream together butter, sugar, egg, lemon zest, salt, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl.
• Mix in flour and walnuts.
• Reserve 1/4 of the dough, and pat the remaining into the prepared pan, going up about 1/2 inch on each side.
• Spread chosen jam flavor in a layer over top of the dough.
• Flour a flat surface.
• Use reserved dough to create a lattice top for the bars by dividing it into pencil-shaped strips and rolling it on the floured surface.
• Arrange in a lattice pattern across the top of the jam, criss crossing the strips and pressing the ends against the dough on the sides of the pan.
• Bake 45 mintures, or until lightly browned.
• Cool in the pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars.

LINZER STRIPS

Steps:

• Combine butter and sugar in a large mixer bowl.
• Add eggs and almond extract until well mixed.
• Reduce speed to low when adding flour and ground nuts.
• Divide dough into 8 equal parts.
• Roll each part into an 8-inch log on a lightly floured surface.
• Wrap in plastic food wrap; refrigerate until firm about 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place logs on cookie sheets.
• Pat each log into 2-inch wide logs.
• Press a 1-inch wide indentation lengthwise down the center of each strip using the back of a spoon.
• Bake for 17-19 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
• Spoon 2 tablespoons fruit spread into the indentation of each log; sprinkle with almond slices.
• Cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces while cookies are still warm.
• Cool completely on cookie sheet.

CHOCOLATE LINZER TORTE STARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. Whisk first six ingredients. Stir in butter, egg and vanilla until blended., On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. star-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until set, 5-7 minutes. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., Spread preserves on bottoms of half of the cookies; cover with remaining cookies. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Let stand until set.