Linecké Cukroví (Czech Linzer Cookies)
Linecké cukroví or Linzer cookies are classic Christmas cookies found in most of central Europe. In the Czech Republic most families make lots of Vanoční cukroví (Christmas cookies) and these cookies are almost always present. They are delicate, festive, and completely scrumptious.
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 6 minutes
Yield: 70-80 cookies
Ingredients:
300g all-purpose flour*
210g unsalted butter at room temperature
120g powdered sugar*
3 egg yolks
Zest of a lemon
Jam (for sandwiching the cookies)
Vanilla bean-infused powdered sugar (for dusting)*
Directions:
Add flour, softened butter, powdered sugar, egg yolks, and lemon zest to a bowl.
Mix ingredients until the dough comes together into a ball.
Cover the cookie dough and refrigerate for an hour.
Remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes so it is a little more pliable but still firm.
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 175°C.
Roll the dough out so it is about 1/8 inch thick.
Use a cookie cutter to stamp out cookies.
Then stamp out the middle of half the cookies.
Bake cookies for 6 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool for about 5-10 minutes.
Then put jam in the center of the flat side of the cookies that do not have a hole in them.
Sandwich cookies so that each sandwich has a cookie with a hole on top of a cookie with jam on it.
Sift vanilla sugar on top of the cookies, optionally you can sift the vanilla sugar on top of the cookies with holes in them before sandwiching.
Additional Notes:
*To make these gluten-free just substitute regular flour for gluten-free flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour).
*Use pure powdered sugar that doesn’t have any added starch in it (confectioners sugar is powdered sugar but it has starch added to it to prevent clumping).
*I make my own vanilla powdered sugar by simply splitting 1 or 2 vanilla bean pods and scooping out the vanilla beans and adding both the beans and the pods to a jar with 1 cup of powdered sugar.
