Linzer Trees Food

LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter with paddle attachment. Add sugar and continue creaming. Add the egg, lemon, and vanilla and mix. Add nuts and mix. Stir together dry ingredients in a bowl and add to mixer and blend. Form into disks, wrap and chill. Roll out dough with floured rolling pin to 1/8-inch thickness on a well floured surface. Cut out disks, fluted if desired, approximately 2 inches in diameter. Cut out the centers of half the disks with a cutter in the shape of your choice. Re-roll scraps and repeat. Chill cut out dough. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F for 12 minutes or until edges turn golden then cool on a wire rack. Heat the jam and spread the solid disks with a layer of the hot jam. Glue on the lids pressing down lightly. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, then fill the holes with more jam. Let set slightly before serving.

LINZER TREES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking pans with parchment or silicone baking mats.
• In a bowl or stand mixer, mix butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients, a half-cup at a time, to butter mixture.
• Divide dough into 3 balls. Place each ball between parchment paper (nonstick works best) and roll into a thin circle, about 11 inches in diameter and just over 1/8-inch thick. Refrigerate flat for at least 15 minutes.
• Working quickly with one sheet of dough, remove top layer of parchment, then flip onto a clean sheet and remove the bottom layer. Using a tree-shaped cookie cutter, cut 30 shapes for the bottoms of the cookies and place on prepared baking sheets. Reserve scraps to reuse for more cookies.
• Bake cookie bottoms for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges just begin to brown. Rest for a couple of minutes on the tray, then carefully transfer to a cooking rack. Repeat the process to create the tops, using a pastry tip or a straw to cut out 5 to 7 holes on the trees to resemble ornaments. Open any holes that close during baking.
• Meanwhile, melt jam with 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar and boil lightly for about a minute. Cool slightly. Assemble cookies by flipping the bottoms, spreading them with a scant teaspoon of jam, dusting the tops lightly with powdered sugar and then gently pressing the tops onto the bottoms. Store airtight between layers of wax paper or parchment for 3 days. Freeze for up to a month.

LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix the flour, 1 tsp cinnamon and the allspice in a large bowl until combined. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the almonds and caster sugar. Drizzle in the egg and mix with a cutlery knife until the dough comes together in large clumps. Using your hands, knead the dough in the bowl until it forms a tight, compact disc. If the dough is still very soft, chill for 15 mins.
• Roll the dough out on a lightly dusted work surface to 5mm thickness. Stamp out 20 x 7cm rounds using a crinkle-edged cookie cutter and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Re-roll the off-cuts and cut out as many more biscuits as you can (you need to end up with an even number). Use a small round or other festive cutter to stamp a circle from the centre of half the biscuits. Chill all the biscuits in the freezer for 20 mins or the fridge for 30 mins until firm.
• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Bake the biscuits for about 10-12 mins, or until lightly golden and sandy to the touch. Leave to cool for 5 mins on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Mix the icing sugar with the rest of the cinnamon and dust this over the cut-out biscuits. Spoon the jam over the whole biscuits and smooth with the back of a spoon. Sandwich these with the icing-sugar-dusted biscuits. Will keep in an airtight container for six days. Best eaten within three days.