Food is a love language, so give the gift of love in the form of a delicious, Sweet Red Cherry Linzer Cookie. Sweet red cherry jam is a nontraditional filling in this classic shortbread style sandwich cookie.  The tart sweetness alongside the buttery crisp texture and chocolatey “stems” are sure to make a statement! These are perfect for gifting, make a lovely display and are sure to please any recipient you choose to share them with.

Ingredients:

  • 12 tbsp. softened unsalted butter 
  • ½ c. granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon 
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
  • ¾ c. fine ground almond flour
  • ¼ tsp. kosher salt
  • Sweet Red Cherry Jam, for filling 
  • Powdered sugar for dusting
  • Melting chocolate for “stems”

Directions:

  1. Prepare Sweet Red Cherry Jam. Allow to cool while you prepare the cookies. 
  2. Add the butter, sugar, and cinnamon to a mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until well combined, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure there are no clumps.
  3. Whisk together the flours (all-purpose and almond) and the salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until it comes together, but do not over mix.
  4. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, shape into a disk form, wrap each in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  5. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and let rest for 5 minutes at room temperature.
  6. Flour your work surface, and the top of one disk and roll out to 1/8 inch thick. 
  7. Cut out cookies with a pastry or biscuit cutter (2 ½ inch diameter is recommended) and place each cookie on a parchment lined baking sheet.

     

  8. Gather the dough scraps, reform, dust with flour and roll out again to make as many cookies as you can and reduce waste. Each disk makes about 12-15 cookies.
  9. Preheat the oven to 350°F
  10. Allow the cookie cut-outs to firm up in the fridge for 30 minutes, while you work on the other dough disk. Rolling and cutting out the same number of cookies as you did in the last batch. 
  11. When the second disk is finished, place them in the fridge to cool while you prepare the first batch.
  12. With a small round cutting tool or the end of a piping tip, cut out two circles in the top of each cookie (make sure you only do this to the first batch of cookies as these will represent the tops, and the others, the bottom).
  13. Bake the cookies for 13 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Allow to cool completely. 
  14. Sift the powdered sugar over the tops of the cut-out cookies.

     

  15. Melt your chocolate as directed on the package. Pour the slightly cooled chocolate into a small piping bag fitted with a small round tip, and pipe on two stems joining at the top.
  16. Take the uncut cookie half, and spoon on about 2 tsp. of the cooled Sweet Red Cherry Jam onto the cookie, top with the cherry cut out cookie, pressing slightly to fill the “cherries”.

     

  17. These cookies will store at room temperature for several days or in the freezer long-term.

     

Recipe by: Valerie Musser of @valeriesofcoursecatering & @whosagoodlizard