12 Bakes of Christmas – Day 8, Linzer Cookies

These biscuits very nearly didn’t make it onto the 12 bakes of Christmas. They are, after all, something I’ve only just begun making. They’re also something that normally I wouldn’t be faffed with – too much rolling, cutting, and rerolling. This is, however, Christmas, and a little faffery is, therefore a good thing. Besides, Hugh Grant kept me company. But, I digress.

Linzer cookies originated in Austria and are a Christmas tradition in that part of the world. They’re named after the Linzer Torte, a rich Austrian pastry with a bottom crust, and lattice top of spiced ground almond dough and a filling of jam that originated in the Austrian city of Linz.

The cookies follow the same principle – they’re a biscuit made from spiced ground almond dough, sandwiched together with jam and with a little peephole cut from the top so the jam peeps through.

They are also very yummy indeed.

The recipe I used is Nigella’s – you can find it here – although she uses ground toasted hazelnut meal as opposed to ground almonds. The faff involved with that was, however, one faff too many for me. Besides, I already had ground almonds in the house.

Nor did I have redcurrant jelly, so raspberry had to suffice. It tasted, I think, just as good as the redcurrant mixed with raspberry would have tasted, but wasn’t quite as photogenic.

While they were, as I’ve mentioned, a bit of a palaver to make, it was a good excuse to use the cutest little mini cutters that found their way into my trolley (truly, they jumped off the shelf as I took the shortcut through Myer the other day when I was getting my hair cut at the Plaza). Plus, I’d been meaning to listen to Hugh Grant reading A Christmas Carol. In short, I could think of far worse – and substantially less tasty – ways of spending a Friday afternoon.