Chamomile and Apricot Linzer Cookies

Happy Christmas Dessert Day 6! No Christmas cookie box is complete without Linzer cookies. There are a million recipes for Linzer cookies out there on the inter-webs, filled with everything from traditional berry jams to dulce de leche to chocolate. I actually even saw a recipe on Instagram the other day for matcha chocolate Linzers and that sounds like match made in heaven. Traditional Linzer cookies come from the town of Linz in Austria and are the same as a Linzer torte made bite-sized into cookie form. Two shortbread cookies, one with a little window cut out, sandwich a filling of your choice. They are pretty and festive and make a great addition to any holiday cookie box.

Technically speaking, true Linzer cookies have some sort of nut flour in them. (Since they are derived from the Linzer torte and if you remember my recently released expose on tortes, nut flour is a characteristic that distinguishes a torte from a cake.) These are flavored with chamomile and filled with a bright, floral apricot jam.

A few little tips to help make these successful for you: use cold dough! When working with shortbread of any type, butter melts quickly and chilling your dough frequently will save you lots of headaches. Chill the dough after mixing, and then while rolling and cutting, anytime the dough feels the tiniest bit soft, pop the whole sheet in the freezer for a few minutes, trust me on this! If your jam is thick and doesn’t seem pipe-able, just microwave for a few seconds to loosen it a bit.

Chamomile and Apricot Linzer Cookies

makes 18-20 cookies 

recipe adapted from Susan Spungen

Ingredients

2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (50 g) almond flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp loose chamomile tea, from two tea bags

1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup (135 g) granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp buttermilk, at room temperature

About 1/2 cup apricot jam*

Procedure

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, almond flour, salt, and baking soda until no lumps remain. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, sugar, and chamomile tea. Cream on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat again, for 1-2 minutes, until completely combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and make sure that the mixture is homogenous.

4. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix just until the dough starts to come together around the paddle and no dry streaks of flour remain.

5. Divide the dough in half and pat each portion into a disc. Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour, until the dough is firm.

6. After the dough has chilled, place one disc between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out until dough is around 1/8” in thickness. Remove the top piece of parchment paper, slide the bottom piece of parchment paper along with the rolled out dough onto a sheet pan and transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes. Repeat the entire process with the other disc.

7. When you are ready to cut the cookies out, flour two round cookie cutters of your choice, one larger (around 2-3”) and one smaller (1-2”). Punch out cookies using the large cutter, then go back with the small cutter and punch out windows in half of the cookie rounds. Place dough back in the freezer to chill for another 5-10 minutes. Use a small offset spatula to remove excess dough (I found this is much easier when the dough is straight from the freezer), and then chill one last time while the oven preheats.

8. Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake cookies on their parchment lined baking sheets for 6-7 minutes, until just beginning to turn golden brown on the edges. Remove and let cool completely on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

9. To fill, place the apricot jam in a piping bag. Place the cookie bottoms on a piece of parchment paper and pipe a dollop of jam (about 1 tsp) in the center of each cookie bottom. Immediately sandwich the tops of the cookies with a windowed cookie top and press down gently. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Espresso Crinkle Cookies

It’s Day 2 of 12 Days of Christmas Desserts and a beautiful day for cookies. I don’t know about you, but my Instagram and Pinterest feeds have been inundated with Christmas cookies since the end of November. Little gingerbread people decorated with little royal icing outfits, very-structurally sound gingerbread greenhouses, and cookie boxes galore. My problem with Christmas cookies in general is that often, the prettier the cookie, the less delicious it is. (I know that this is a very broad stereotype, but I’ve found that 9 times out of 10, that’s the case.) When I was in culinary school, our pastry cohort spent six months building an entire gingerbread village. The finished product was intricate and detailed and absolutely amazing, but completely inedible. I’m not here for all of that. I like unassuming Christmas cookies with chewy centers and crunchy outsides. The slightly less-cute cookies are always the most delicious.

These chocolate espresso crinkle cookies definitely fall into that not as cute Christmas cookie category, but they deserve a place in your repertoire. A fudgy, brownie like interior is packed with dark chocolate and espresso and then each cookie is rolled in powdered sugar for that just-took-a-dip-in-freshly-packed-snow look. A Christmas classic. These also freeze beautifully, just wait to roll them in powdered sugar until just before baking.

Chocolate Espresso Crinkle Cookies

makes 24-28 cookies

Ingredients

11 oz (312 g) dark chocolate, chopped 

1 stick (113 g; 4 oz) unsalted butter, cubed

1 tbsp instant espresso powder

1 cup (240 g; 8.4 oz) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (100 g; 3.4 oz ) light brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 cups (290 g; 10.3 oz) all purpose flour

2 tbsp (14 g) dark cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Procedure 

1. In a medium-sized heatproof bowl set over a double boiler, melt the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso. When completely melted and combined, set aside to cool slightly.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Whip on medium-high speed until the mixture is light in color and slightly thickened. (You should be able to pull the whisk out of the bowl and the mixture should leave a ribbon-like mark in the mixture.)

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

4. Switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment and gradually add the dry ingredients, with the mixer on low speed. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently and mix until just combined.

5. Keep the mixer on low speed and stream in melted chocolate mixture. Increase speed to medium and mix until just combined (about 30 seconds). Use the rubber spatula to continue gently folding the mixture until all one color. Be careful not to overmix, but you want to ensure that everything is homogenized.

6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, and up to overnight.

7. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using either a medium or large cookie scoop, portion cookies, rolling each one in powdered sugar before placing on prepared tray, leaving about 2” of space between them because they will spread a little.

8. Bake for 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies, 10-12 minutes for larger cookies. Let cookies cool at least 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a cooling rack.

more recipes like this

toasted buckwheat and chocolate cookies

go to recipe

espresso tahini brownies

go to recipe

white chocolate cherry cookies

go to recipe

Browned Butter and Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie

I’m back with another browned butter recipe, everyone and I’m a little bit proud of it. Some days, you just need to shove a bunch of cookie dough into a skillet, bake it for a few minutes, and then eat it with a spoon straight from the pan. Honestly, I feel like that would be a great activity for most days.

I developed this recipe a few months back as part of a recipe development project with Beyond Good Chocolate and realized recently that I never shared it with you guys on the blog! Forgive my oversight! This is a really great, back pocket, I need dessert right now but it’s 8 o’clock at night and I don’t have the energy to bake anything too involved, type of recipe. (Side note: When Martin and I first got married, Chik-fil-A cookies were our go-to. Then we moved on to mug cakes and now we’ve graduated onto the more-refined skillet cookie. Good marriages need easy desserts.)

This recipe could not be easier or more versatile. If you feel like adding nuts, go for it. White chocolate chips, have at it. Making it oatmeal raisin, I wouldn’t, but you do you! Whatever your adventure, make sure you eat it warm with lots of ice cream!

Browned Butter and Dark Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie

makes one 10” cast iron skillet

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (220 g) all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter

3/4 cup (160 g) brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp Beyond Good Madagascar Vanilla Extract

200 g Beyond Good Pure Dark Chocolate, chopped 

flaky salt for finishing

Procedure 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. Place butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, swirling occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, until butter is foamy and fragrant with little brown flecks throughout. When the butter is browned and nutty smelling, remove it from the heat and pour it into a large heat-proof bowl. Let cool while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

3. In medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Add the brown sugar to the butter and whisk until well-combined. Add the egg and vanilla and continue whisking until the mixture becomes smooth and homogenous.

5. Use a rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture, mixing until just combined and no flour streaks remain. Fold in 3/4 of the chopped dark chocolate.

6. Pour the cookie dough into a 10” cast iron skillet and use your hands to press it into an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate evenly over the top of the cookie. Bake the cookie for 17-19 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with flaky salt and serve warm.

more recipes like this

a chocolate chip cookie collection

go to recipe

rum cookies

go to recipe

monster chocolate chip cookies

go to recipe