Raspberry Linzer Rounds Food

RASPBERRY LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter, gradually adding 2/3 cup sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape dough into a ball; cover and refrigerate until firm, 30-45 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. On a surface dusted with confectioners' sugar, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Using a floured 1-in. cookie cutter, cut out centers of half of the cookies., Beat egg whites until frothy. Mix almonds and remaining sugar. Brush cookies with egg whites; sprinkle with almond mixture. Bake solid and window cookies 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets until lightly browned, 6-8 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. , Spread 2 teaspoons raspberry preserves over the bottoms of solid cookies. Top with window cookies, almond side up., Editor's Note: For variety, substitute your favorite preserves in place of raspberry or apricot.

RASPBERRY LINZER COOKIES

Steps:

• Several hours before baking: In a food processor, process the almonds and hazelnuts with 1/2 c of the flour until fine textured, but NOT powdered (To avoid overprocessing, stop the machine occasionally and feel the nuts; they may look like they are still chunky, but they may just be clumping together).
• Add the remain flour and other dry ingredients along with the zest.
• Pulse to combine.
• Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add to the flour mixture; pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal.
• Don't overprocess.
• Transfer to a large bowl.
• Whisk together the egg and water; sprinkle over the flour mixture and toss gently to combine.
• The dough should hold together when pinched (if it seems dry, sprinkle on a bit more water).
• Gather the dough into two balls and knead briefly just to blend.
• Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, 2-3 hours.
• TO BAKE: Oven to 325 degrees F.
• Cover your cookie sheets with parchment.
• Generously flour a work surface.
• Roll one ball of dough out 3/16" thick.
• (Keep the rest of the dough in the refrigerator, and if the dough warms up to the point of being sticky while you are working with it, return it to the fridge to chill.) Cut as many of the larger shape as possible out of the dough, rerolling the scraps to make more rounds.
• Arrange on the cookie sheets about 3/4 inch apart.
• Use the small cookie cutter to cut holes in the center of half of the cookies.
• Reroll these little scraps to make more cookies.
• Bake the cookies until the edges are lightly brown, about 15 minutes.
• Let cool on the pans before transferring to cookie racks.
• Repeat with remaining dough.
• To assemble, sift powdered sugar over the cookies with the holes cut in them, then spread a heaping 1/2 tsp.
• of preserves on the bottom of the whole cookie rounds.
• Sandwich the cookies together.
• NOTE: These cookies should be served the day they are put together.
• You can bake the cookies a week early, then sandwich them together a few hours before serving.
• NOTE 2: The dough for this cookie is kind of a pain to work with, and it takes patience, but I promise you, the end result is so worth it.

RASPBERRY LINZER ROUNDS

Steps:

• BEAT sugar and shortening in bowl of electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg and almond extract, beating until well blended. Combine flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Add gradually to shortening mixture at low speed. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Wrap each one with plastic wrap. Freeze 30 minutes or refrigerate 2 hours or up to 2 days.
• HEAT oven to 350ºF. Roll 1 quarter of dough between 2 sheets of floured wax paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Remove top sheet of wax paper. Cut with a floured 2-inch round scalloped cutter. Cut centers out of half of the cookies with a 3/4-inch cutter. Place 2-inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.
• BAKE 6 to 7 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on baking sheet. Remove to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Spread about 1/2 teaspoon jam on bottom side of each whole cookie. Sprinkle tops of center cut-out cookies with powdered sugar. Place on top of cookies with jam.
• If dough gets too soft while cutting, place in freezer for 10 minutes. Cookie dough cuts easier when chilled.