Holiday Linzer Cookies
These holiday linzers are my showstopper cookies every single year. They go in every cookie box, they come with me to every party, they are my evening treat of choice. These cookies are made. of an incredibly tender and soft cookie dough flavored with orange zest, and sandwich a tart cranberry-orange jam. Best of all, you can cut these out in any shape you like— my favorites are stars and Christmas trees. These cookies take about three hours to make and last well at room temperature for at least a week. This recipe makes approximately 30-35 sandwich cookies (so 60-70 individual cookies) depending on the size.
Note: These ingredients are listed in grams, which I don’t always do, because proportions are extremely important for these cookies. 20 grams too much flour will make your cookies a crumbly nightmare. Use a scale!
Ingredients
Cookies:
700 grams all-purpose flour
240 grams granulated sugar
300 grams unsalted butter, softened (5 sticks and some change)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons orange zest
1/4 cup powdered sugar (for sprinkling)
Cranberry jam:
12 ounces fresh cranberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
Directions
Begin by making the cookies. In a large bowl, cream together your butter, sugar, and orange zest using a hand mixer (or a whisk if you want an arm workout).
Add the flour and salt, and beat until the dough is soft and crumbly
Tip your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into two disks. Tightly plastic wrap each one and chill them in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
Remove one disk of dough from the fridge and roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it’s about 1/4 of an inch thick. Use whatever shape cookie cutter you like to gently cut out as many shapes as possible. Remove them one at a time by sliding a fork or spatula underneath them and transfer them to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. They don’t need to be far apart, as these won’t spread while baking. For half of the shapes you cut out, use a small circular cookie cutter or the back of a piping tip to cut a small round window out of the middle.
Incorporate all the scraps back into the remaining dough and turn it into a disk. When it grows soft, swap it out for the one in the refrigerator. Repeat, swapping the disks back and forth until all the dough has been used.
Preheat your oven to 400F while the baking sheets of cookies chill for at least fifteen minutes.
Bake these cookies on the middle rack for 7-9 minutes. Check these constantly after the seven minute mark- if you want soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies, not crunchy ones, you want to remove them they brown. The very edges should just barely be beginning to color when you take them out. They may look underdone but they will quickly set once out of the oven.
Transfer the cookies to a rack and allow them to cool completely.
While the cookies cool, make the cranberry jam. Pour the cranberries, sugar, and orange juice into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat with the lid on, stirring every couple of minutes until the mixture comes to a boil.
Lower the heat to medium-low and continue to cook it down. Once most of the cranberries have popped and the mixture is somewhat liquidy, blend it using an immersion blender to smooth it out. Remove it from the heat and let it cool for 15-20 minutes
On the flat side of each non-window cookie, spread a layer of the cranberry jam. Top with a window cookie, flat side on the jam, and place on a cooling rack. Repeat with all the cookies.
Sift powdered sugar generously over the top of all the sandwich cookies. Enjoy or store in a container at room temperature for up to a week.
