When I stumble upon cookies that aren’t chocolate–in the graduate students’ lounge of my department, at a friend’s house for dinner–I can’t say I feel mad, but I am certainly disappointed. A non-chocolate cookie is better than no cookie at all, but a great chocolate chip cookie triumphs over all other options.
Except, once a year, on Valentine’s Day, ever since I was a little kiddo, I have preferred these pecan and raspberry linzer cookies– a nutty variation on the classic Austrian Linzer cookie recipe. For one, they are beautiful, with shiny raspberry jam offset by a dusting of bright white powdered sugar.
More importantly: they are so very good. I find the cookie part of most Linzer sandwich cookies to be pretty bland. But with this raspberry linzer cookie recipe, a heavy dose of pecans gives the cookie a toasted, nutty flavor that balances the sweetness of the jam and powdered sugar.
As with any Linzer cookie recipe, making these is a bit of a process. But it makes for a nice weekend project, and I can’t imagine anyone–friend, daughter, mother, lover–who wouldn’t love to receive these on Valentine’s Day. (Alternatively, if you are competitive like me: put a plate of these down by the water cooler to blow your officemates’ Valentine’s cookies out of the water.)
Pecan and Raspberry Linzer Cookies
12
cookiesPecans add a toasted, nutty flavor to this iteration of the classic Austrian jam-filled linzer cookie.
Ingredients
1 cup (227g) butter
2/3 cup (153g) sugar
1 1/3 cup (148g) pecans, ground
2 cups (290g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (75g) powdered-sugar
1/2 cup (190g) raspberry jam (I like Bonne Maman)
Directions
- In a stand mixer or in a large bowl with electric hand mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until creamy; beat in vanilla. Gradually add ground pecans and flour, beating to blend thoroughly. Form into a flattened ball/disc, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until easy to handle (1 to 2 hours).
- On a floured work surface, roll out dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch (1/3cm). If you didn’t chill for the full two hours, you can prevent the dough from sticking to your rolling pin by covering the dough with waxed paper before you roll. Note: it is better to have your cookies slightly too thick than slightly too thin, which will make them very difficult to work with.
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
- Use a 2-inch cookie cutter to cut the dough into hearts. Place the hearts on an ungreased baking sheet spacing about 1 inch apart. Reform and roll out the remaining dough until all of the cookies are cut out. Then cut a hole in the center of half of the cookies. Place cookies in oven and bake for about 12 minutes or until lightly brownedu002du002dwatch carefully at the end because when these brown, they brown fast. Transfer the cookies with holes to one cooling rack and the cookies without holes to another; let cool completely.
- Sift powdered sugar over tops of cookies with holes. Spread cookies without holes with jam. Place a sugar-topped cookie on each jam-topped cookie to form a sandwich.
Notes
- Cookie dough can be made up to a week in advance and stored in the fridge, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.
Love these!!! Noticed that the final product pic not in the email even though it’s top of the blog post. Should have these beauties front and center of the email!
❤️❤️❤️
Sent from my iPhone
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Ooh, thanks! Had no idea. I’ll fiddle with it, but ultimately, I just need to pay for a better website/email design. Xoxo