12 Days of Christmas Cookies: Day 2

Behold! The Cranberry Orange Linzer cookie. This recipe is uniquely delicious. It's a tad bit more time-consuming, but most definitely worth it for a cookie that is tart, sweet, and smells incredible.

Recipe: Cranberry Orange Linzer

Ingredients:

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (200grams) granulated sugar

2 large eggs (100grams)

2 3/4 cups (344 grams) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (72 grams) almond meal

1/2 cup (64 grams) cornstarch

2 1/2 tablespoons (7.5 grams) orange zest (about 1 navel orange)

2 teaspoons (4 grams) ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon (2 grams) kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

***Cranberry Preserves

3 cups (330 grams) fresh or frozen cranberries

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon (a pinch) kosher salt

2 tablespoons (30 grams) water

Steps:

1. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Beat butter and granulated sugar on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy (about 3-4 minutes)

3. Scrape sides of bowl and add eggs.

4. Beat until combined.

5. Add flour.

6. Add almond meal.

7. Add cornstarch.

8. Add orange zest.

9. Add cinnamon.

10. Add salt.

11. Add cloves.

12. Beat at a low speed until dough collects in a single mass, pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

13. Take a handful of dough at a time and roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll to a 3/16-inch thickness.

14. Refrigerate for a minimum of 40 minutes.

15. Pre-heat your oven to 375°F (190°C).

16. Once the dough is chilled, remove from the refrigerator, and using a 2-3 inch round cutter, cut out the top and bottom cookies for your Linzer sandwiches. (Make sure you cut an even number of rounds for a top and bottom piece). If the dough becomes too soft to handle, put your parchment sheet of dough back into the refrigerator. Handling the dough while it is soft will distort your cut shapes.

17. Place your rounds onto your cookie sheet lined with parchment paper with at least 1/2 an inch between cookies.

18. In half of the rounds, take a mini-sized cookie cutter shape, and cut out the center of half of the rounds, making a small window that will display your cranberry preserves.

19. Refrigerate your cut-out cookies for 20 minutes, or freeze for 10.

20. Once chilled again, bake until the edges of the cookie are set and are barely beginning to turn golden. (10 to 12 minutes).

21. Let cool completely.

*** Make your cranberry preserves:

22. Cook 3 cups of cranberries, ¾ cup of sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt in a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

23. Cook cranberries until they begin to burst and the mixture is boiling.

24. Reduce heat to low and stir in 2 tablespoons of water.

25. Let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

26. Transfer to heatproof bowl and let cool completely.

27. Once your preserves are cooled, spread a thin layer of cranberry on the bottom cookies without the cutout center.

28. Dust your cutout cookie tops with confectioner’s sugar then place them on top of our cookie sandwich bottoms that are spread with cranberry preserves.

29. Enjoy!

Decorative recipe pages can be found in the Academy Vault