After nailing the perfect snappy texture in last week’s Vegan, Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies, I couldn’t resist taking that formula and making it into linzer cookies.
Traditional linzer cookies are made from a dough that isn’t much more than a sugar cookie with a smattering of ground nuts tossed in for depth and tenderness. My vegan, gluten-free cookie formula already gets all its structure from almonds, but I still found a way to make the final product uniquely linzery. Linzerian? Linzeresque? Anyway…
The gist is that I removed the dark molasses and spices from the dough, lightening the flavor profile with maple syrup and a small, but effective amount of toasted ground hazelnuts. If you can’t get your hands on hazelnuts, pecans will work just as well (plus you won’t have to peel them).
This dough requires a short chill before the usual rolling, cutting and baking. Don’t forget to stamp out a little window in half your cookies for that signature linzer cookie look!
As far as filling goes, you can use any spread you like, but jam is traditional. I’m not much of a jam person, but I had a jar of homemade blueberry jam from my friend Suzette up in Maine, so I used that. Raspberry and strawberry would give festive Christmas red vibes, but I think orange marmalade might be absolute magic paired with the nutty cookies. I’ll have to try that another day though—for now, I’m extremely into these blue-black little picture windows and the signature flavor of my favorite place.
Vegan, Gluten-Free Linzer Cookies are initially very crunchy, but soften a bit as they soak up some moisture from the jam. This is not a bad thing at all, as it makes them easier to eat without getting crumbs on your shirt. That’s very important if, like me, you plan to casually snag a cookie every time you walk by the plate from now until 2022.
Vegan, Gluten-Free Linzer Cookies
makes about 2.5 dozen sandwich cookies
1/2 cup whole hazelnuts (or pecans)
2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup or light corn syrup
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For assembly:
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
~3/4 cup jam or spread of choice
Special equipment:
rolling pin
2-inch cookie cutter
smaller cookie cutter (I used the large end of a piping tip)
toast and peel the hazelnuts. Place hazelnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir frequently until fragrant, 7-10 minutes. Immediately transfer hazelnuts to a clean, dry hand towel. Fold towel around the hazelnuts and then rub the towel with the palm of your hand. This will allow the hazelnut skins to loosen. This step does not have to be done perfectly. (If you are using pecans, you do not need to peel them.)
Let hazelnuts cool completely. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until they are a fine meal. Do not over-process or you’ll have hazelnut butter (delicious, but not helpful here).
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together ground hazelnuts, almond flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate medium-large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat vegan butter until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add sugar and confectioner’s sugar and beat until fully combined (about 2 minutes). Beat in maple syrup and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients in two installments, mixing completely after each addition. Dough may look rubbly, but should hold together extremely well when pinched.
Divide dough in two. Form each half into a disk, then wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour or up to 3 days.
Place oven racks in central positions. Preheat oven to 325F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment.
Use confectioner’s sugar to dust a surface and rolling pin. Unwrap one disk of dough and place it on the surface. Use the rolling pin to roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. A thin offset icing spatula or bench scraper (or similar) will make moving the dough much easier, as will adding more confectioner’s sugar to the surface and rolling pin.
Use a 2-inch rom d cookie cutter to cut cookies, then use the icing spatula to move them to the prepared pans, keeping them 1.5 inches apart. Use a smaller cutter (I used the wide end of a piping tip) to cut windows in half your cookies—these are the tops of your linzers. Bake cookies 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans top-to-bottom and front-to-back at the 7 minute mark.
Let cookies cool 10 minutes on their pans. Use a spatula to remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Repeat rolling, cutting, and baking as needed, re-rolling scraps as needed. Let cookie sheets come to room temperature between batches.
Set a cooling rack over a piece of parchment. Once all cookies are baked and cooled, set the cookies with the centers cut out on a prepared rack. Sift confectioners sugar over the tops.
Spread each whole cookie with jam (amount is based on your preference). Carefully sandwich cookies together. Serve.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week. Place wax paper between layers for best storage. Cookies will soften a bit over time.
Two cookie recipes in a week? Sure, why not. With 
They’re filled to the brim strawberry flavor, and even I—an avowed midwinter strawberry hater—can’t resist them. Oh yes, I’m that person. Every year I get on my soapbox about strawberries not being in season in the dead of winter, and yet 
The cookie dough is rolled very thin, cut in two-inch circles (some with little windows), and baked for just six minutes. The results are firm, but on the soft side, something that makes these linzers irresistible when doused with confectioner’s sugar and sandwiched with strawberry jam. Yum.
While these little treats are unapologetically strawberry, they can be made with any freeze dried berries and jam you like! I’ve even been toying with the idea of using freeze dried mango in this dough (maybe with 
I can hardly believe that Christmas is one week away. Thanksgiving was so late this year that I don’t feel like I’ve stopped to bask in the glow of Christmas lights at all, and I won’t have time to until I’m in Texas.
Don’t get me wrong, my apartment is decorated within an inch of fire code and I’ve been to see all the festive things. I’m just not quite in the spirit yet…except when I’m making cookies. Or showing up to places with cookies. Luckily for me, I do a lot of both of those things. Ain’t life grand?
Today’s cookies, these Oat-Pecan Linzer beauts, are a crisp, nutty, whole grain take on a classic. They’re as delicious as they are visually stunning, and they have the added benefits of being both gluten-free and vegan, so you know the batch will disappear in no time.
The Oat-Pecan Linzer Cookie dough is a variation on the 
The cut-out cookies are set over a rack and dusted with confectioner’s sugar, while the whole ones are spread with jam. You can glue your linzers together with any jam or spread you like. I used raspberry jam in the cookies with the tree cut-outs and apricot for the stars. Feel free to get creative with 
These linzers are everything I love in a holiday cookie: sweet, spiced, stunning and shareable. You *know* how much I love a 
Hi there 👋 I made you some cookies.
I mean, I baked them last week and ate them all already, but you understand, right? Things that taste like 
These are linzer cookies—basically sandwich cookies with little cut-out picture windows to show the filling, which is traditionally jam. Today, I decided to go in another direction with flavors reminiscent of key lime pie. I just love the results—they look so sunny and happy.
The cookie recipe is a spin on my favorite roll-out 
You’ll notice one glaring omission in these linzers: I left out the traditional nuts. While most recipes have almonds or pecans (or 
Speaking of filling, you’re going to want to put this stuff on everything. Toast, vanilla wafers, ice cream, swirled into yogurt, eaten off a spoon, and probably five other things I haven’t thought of yet. It’s basically key lime pie filling that’s cooked over a double boiler and then allowed to chill until rich, thick, tangy and delicious. It has the texture of a citrus curd, but is half the work and requires only three ingredients! Yesssss. The filling recipe makes a bit more than you’ll need for these cookies, so you’ll have plenty leftover to use elsewhere. Trust me, you’ll be glad to have this stuff around.
While it’s good in all sorts of applications, this creamy, dreamy key lime filling is especially good sandwiched between two thin cookies and topped off with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. I think most things are.
If you want to know what kind of person I am outside of this blog, you should know that I once spent six months of my life obsessively making jam (and preserves) in a kitchen that is smaller that my current closet. Strawberry, cherry, grapefruit marmalade, gingered nectarine—you name it. I had all the preserving equipment you can imagine and an entire kitchen shelf filled with jars of colorful fruit-based spreads.
So, to wrap that up: I am prone to intense kitchen projects (hello, three year-old food blog with 
I mean, I am all about crunchy, nutty roll-out cookies, but why must they always be sandwiched with jam? Jam is not a dessert food, at least as far as I am concerned. A 
You know what absolutely *is* a dessert food? Nutella.
Chocolate hazelnut spread = dessert food.
Chocolate hazelnut cookies = dessert food.
A layer of Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread sandwiched between two crunchy chocolate hazelnut cookies = the dessertiest dessert food.
So, in conclusion, when it comes to Chocolate Hazelnut Linzer Cookies, no jam, no problem.
e2 bakes brooklyn 