Tuesday 2 December 2008

Easy Peasy Linzer Squeasy . . .



When I was a little girl we lived in Germany for about 4 years. My dad was stationed in Baden Baden, in the Black Forest with the Canadian Air force. From that experience I gained a great love for the country, the people and, most notably, the food! So I was really excited to find out what the recipe was for this week's Tuesdays With Dorie!



Yes, folks, it's Tuesdays With Dorie time again here at Oak Cottage and you all know what that means . . . I have baked yet another delicious recipe from that wonderful baking book, Baking, From My Home to Yours, by the equally delicious Dorie Greenspan! The recipe this week was Linzer Sables on pages 134-135, as chosen by noskos of Living the Life.



I had a German friend some years back, named Karin, and every Christmas she would make the most wonderful Linzer biscuits! Dark and spicy and full of raspberry preserves, they were lovely. Dorie's version is not as dark as Karin's were, and not quite as spicy but quite lovely all the same.



I am a Linzer Sable purist, and so I did everything exactly as the recipe requested without fooling around with any of the ingredients, my only problem being that I didn't have anything quite the correct size to cut the hole in the centre, so my holes are a bit on the small side. These cookies are quite delicious though, despite the smaller holes in the centre. Buttery, spicy, full of just the right amount of raspberry preserves and uber dusted with icing sugar, these are absolutely lovely!



The dough is very easy to make and goes together as quick as a wink. It's also very easy to roll out! (This is done between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper) A quick visit to the refrigerator or freezer, and you are ready to stamp them out. I covered some flat cookie trays without sides with some cling film, plopped the dough onto them, covered them with some more cling film and then rolled them out easy peasy lemon squeasy. It was then really easy to slide them into my freezer and wait the appropriate time.



My first tray got a little dark because my timer didn't go off for some reason, but the second tray of them was picture perfect I think! They look so pretty sitting there all dusted in the icing sugar, as if they are wearing their best big and tucker for a special occasion!

These are not cookies that you can sneak though . . . the white powder around the lips gives you away every time . . .

I used ground almonds as that's what I had and I also added a bit more spice to the dough with some ground cardamon. Mmmm . . . buttery, crisp, spicy and full of lovely raspberry preserves, these are real W-I-N-N-E-R-S! Todd just loved them!



If you would like the recipe make sure you check out Noskos Page . DO check out the Dorie Blog Roll as well, so that you can see what some of the other ladies have come up with!

Next week Ulrike of Küchenlatein has chosen Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies on pages 146-147 YUMMO!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

27 comments:

  1. Yummmm...girl you have inspired me to give Dorie's cookbook to my daughters and daughters in law for Christmas. I am sure the book stores thank you as well!! We are getting together to bake this Saturday, and these look like a great new cookie to try! You are fabulous girl!

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  2. Small holes, big holes... who cares! They still look perfect to to me!
    Great Linzer assignment Marie!

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  3. These look absolutely gorgeous! I am so glad that you enjoyed them! I can't believe that I forgot the powdered sugar -- I think it makes your cookies look so festive!

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  4. Your linzer cookies do look great!

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  5. Your cookies look fabulous you put me to shame I don't bake now as much as I would like to. Have a niceday. Love Joan

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  6. Marie these cookies are absolutely lovelies and ymmy!!! look so nice. Gloria

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  7. Beautiful pictures!! Glad you liked them!

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  8. I love your comment about not being able to sneak these because the powdered sugar gives you away! Funny. Marie, your cookies turned out perfectly!

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  9. OH, they're awfully pretty. It makes me want to go back and make them the right way this time. I've missed your blog!

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  10. ils sont super bien réussis :) bravo !

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  11. Oooh...those look so good! I received Dorie's book as birthday gift last week and, while i'm not able to participate every week (there's only so many cookies I can eat in a month!) I'm looking forward to making some of the challenges! I made the "twofer" pie for Thanksgiving. Yummy!

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  12. Too bad these aren't sneak-able cookies thanks to the powdered sugar - they look amazing!

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  13. These are soooo good, Marie! I love Linzer cookies, but have never made them before though. They are so pretty, even if not sneakable ;o)...the jammy holes like a piece of stained glass with a frame of snow...Such fun to discover your giveaway winner--congrats to her! Hope you are having a lovely day, my friend. Love you! :o) ((HUGS))

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  14. I love the background you put into your posts! They look absolutely delicious!

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  15. Your linzer cookies look absolutely gorgeous!

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  16. they do look picture perfect!! you're right, the powdered sugar on the lips is a dead giveaway ;)

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  17. oh well, those small holes look fine to me. and i'm sure any linzer sable purist would have given a thumbs up to those beauties!

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  18. Loved the photos and reading you! They look so good.

    And congrats to the winner!

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  19. Your linzer sables look gorgeous. I'm glad you liked them.

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  20. I agree. So lovely.

    Your blog is great.

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  21. You've lived everywhere! I didn't know you lived in Germany. Cool!

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  22. Seriously yummy looking. Wish I had had time.....

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  23. Great job, Marie! I love the way they look--even with small holes. :)

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  24. My husband really liked them, too. Yours look lovely!

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  25. Whoa! Yours look even better than Dorie's!! You make me want to try them again and see if I messed up! Yummm...nice job :)

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  26. Yummyy! Linzer cookies always look so gorgeous with the icing sugar and peeping glimpse of the bright red jam in the middle - perfection!

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