Linzer Biscuits

These biscuits originate from Austria, and I am just a tiny bit obsessed with them this year - as are many on social media, admittedly. They look like stained glass, and taste amazing.

This biscuit comprises of a jam (traditionally cranberry), sandwiched between two delicate almond biscuits. In this recipe, I've made a mixed berry jam from scratch (not as daunting as it sounds, I promise), and spiced the jam with a few traditional Christmas spices, as a special touch.

The below recipe will make around 24 biscuits. You will have some leftover jam, but this will keep in the fridge for quite some time in a clean, airtight container, and is great with breakfast.

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Ingredients

Biscuits

320gr plain flour

90gr ground almonds

1/4tspn ground cinnamon

1/4tspn salt

225gr salted butter, softened

150gr white sugar

1tspn vanilla essence (or 1/2tspn vanilla bean paste)

2 egg yolks

1tbspn lemon juice

Icing sugar (for dusting)

Mixed Berry Christmas Jam

300gr mixed berries (or berry of choice)

125gr white sugar

2tbspn lemon juice

Zest of 1 small lemon

Two small pieces orange peel

2 star anise

1/4tspn ground cloves

1/2tspn ground nutmeg

1/2tspn ground cinnamon

1/2tspn vanilla essence (or 1/4tspn vanilla bean paste)

5tsbp water

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius.

2. Making the biscuits. In a large mixing bowl, add the plain flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and salt. Mix and set aside.

3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the butter until pale and fluffy. Add the sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, and vanilla essence, and whisk until well incorporated.

4. Add the butter mixture into your dry ingredients. Either using your dough hook, or using your hands, combine the butter mixture with the flour mixture until a dough ball forms. Knead for 2-5 minutes until you have a smooth ball of dough.

5. Roll out the dough until around 2-3mm thick. You don't want the dough to be too thick, as you'll be placing two biscuits together, so if you go too thick, the final result won't be as delicate.

6. Using a cookie cutter of your choice (I opted for hearts and stars), cut out shapes, making sure you have an even number. For every second biscuit, cut out a shape in the middle using a smaller cookie cutter. I opted for a smaller heart to go into the heart, and used the back of a piping tip to cut out small circles in the stars. Every whole biscuit should have a match of a biscuit with a hole through.

7. Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they can burn quite quickly.

8. Once out of the oven, allow to cool.

9. Making the jam. Place all your jam ingredients in a small pot, and cook over the stove on high heat.

10. Once the jam comes to a boil, turn down the heat to low-medium. Make sure to stir every once in a while to avoid burning.

11. Around 10 minutes into making the jam, fish out the star anise and orange peel, as these tend to be quite strong tasting. Do not touch the jam with bare hands - you will burn yourself.

12. Once most of the water evaporates and the jam thickens (around 20-30 minutes at most), take the jam off the burner. Set aside to cool. (The longer the jam cools, the more it'll thicken due to naturally occurring pectin in the berries).

13. Assembly. Set all your top layer biscuits (the ones with the hole in them) onto the table and dust them with icing sugar. It's important this is done before, otherwise you'll cover the jam with the icing sugar after assembly.

14. Once all the biscuits are dusted, set aside. Place a small dollop of jam at the centre of the whole biscuits (the bottom layer). This should not be more than 3/4 tablespoon, otherwise they will overflow. Set the dusted cookies on top. This should lead to the jam spreading slightly and showing through the top, like stained glass. Repeat until all the cookies are done.

Recreating this recipe? Tag me on instagram @juliawgr!