6.30.2009

Sweet Inspirations: Linzer Cookies

Raspberry & Nutella Linzer Cookies

Did You Know? Outselling every brand of peanut butter combined, the amount of Nutella produced worldwide in one day is equivalent to nearly three times the weight of the Statue of Liberty.

The bakery has really been a lot of fun for me and Chris, and we can't help but to spend our days dreaming of the future of the business. Sweet Inspirations had its largest order to date over the weekend (8 dozen cookies), and it couldn't have gone smoother. Salvage Chic, an antique store located in Bryantville Center (Pembroke), contacted me a few weeks ago, in hopes of ordering something special for a sale they would be having this past weekend. I knew their logo involved price tags, so we set out to make some pretty impressive cookies for the event. Linzer cookies were our choice, giving us the ideal recipe to get creative with. We could cut out price tags for the base, and include the initials of the store for the jam to show through. Although the dough was by far the toughest I'd worked with, they turned out wonderfully, and tasted even better.



Raspberry & Nutella Linzer Cookies

Raspberry & Nutella Linzer Cookies

The dough was made with ground up hazelnuts, and for some reason, all it wanted to do was tear, and fall apart. I knew from the comments left by others that it wasn't the most cooperative recipe, but I thought I might have better luck. In the end, it all worked out, and I found that freezing the dough for a little before cutting out the initials worked the best. Just make sure to roll the dough between parchment paper, or you'll never get it off the rolling pin. And don't let my troubles scare you from trying this recipe, it was a huge success among everyone who tried them, and they only get better as the days go on - a great cookie if you're looking for something to make ahead of time.


Raspberry & Nutella Linzer Cookies

Raspberry & Nutella Linzer Cookies

If you live in the South Shore, and have not yet stopped by Salvage Chic, I highly recommend you do so. Christine and Claudia, the two owners, could not be any nicer, and the store itself is something out of a magazine. Each room is set up like a different room in a house, filled with items both old and new. I recently picked up a beautiful glass juicer and a set of vintage cookie jars with my sister and Maddie, and plan on going back to scan through their fabulous aprons. It's always our first stop when we're antique hunting, and we never leave empty handed. They even have a blog, so if you don't live nearby, you can check out all their finds over there.


Raspberry & Nutella Linzer Cookies

Raspberry & Nutella Linzer Cookies
Adapted from Gourmet via Epicurious

2/3 cup hazelnuts (3 oz)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 12-oz jar seedless raspberry jam (or Nutella)
Confectioners' sugar (for dusting)

Special equipment: a 2- to 2 1/4-inch fluted round cookie cutter and assorted 1/2-inch shaped cookie cutters or aspic cutters


Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan until fragrant and skins begin to loosen, about 6 minutes. Rub nuts in a kitchen towel to remove any loose skins (some skins may not come off), then cool to room temperature.

Pulse nuts and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a food processor until nuts are finely ground.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with paddle) or 6 minutes with a handheld. Add nut mixture and beat until combined well, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

With floured hands, form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 5-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 2 hours.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll out 1 disk of dough into an 11-inch round (1/8 inch thick) between 2 sheets of wax paper (keep remaining dough chilled). If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm. Cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with larger cookie cutter and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging about 1 inch apart. Using smaller cutters, cut out centers from half of the cookies, reserving centers and rerolling along with scraps (reroll only once). Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 10 to 15 minutes total, then transfer with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies from second disk.

Dust the windowed cookies with confectioners' sugar. Spread about 1 teaspoon jam (or Nutella) on flat side of 1 solid cookie and sandwich jam with flat side of 1 windowed cookie. Sandwich remaining cookies in same manner.

Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, and chilled in an airtight container, 2 weeks.


Salvage Chic Antiques

19 comments:

  1. Amazing...love raspberry and nutella as well. The hazelnut linzer cookies are just lovely, yummie!
    Love the pictures as well.

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  2. These are so cute! I haven't had nutella in forever, but the thought of it w. raspberry in these cookies is so tempting!

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  3. Great job with these! Your cookies look fantastic. The shop must have been very pleased.

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  4. Wow what a creative idea..I bet they were thrilled..Figtreeapps

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  5. Your partner in crime did a great job on the inspiration. He's good! :)

    Btw, that last photo before the recipe is awesome. I like how to the left of the cookies you can see the powdered sugar outline of them.
    ~ingrid

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  6. That sounds so wonderful! I love nutella. I actually think I'd prefer to use strawberry or blueberry jam, as I'm not a raspberry fan. It'd be a twist on the true linzer bar. Thanks for the great recipe!

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  7. These look amazing. I can't wait to try them for myself as I absolutely love Nutella.

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  8. These are just over the top! I love the use of nutella AND fruit! Thanks so much for the inspiration :)

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  9. Claudia @ Salvage ChicJuly 1, 2009 at 7:39 PM

    They were fantastic tasting and looked great! Especially loved the attention to detail with your flyers, business cards and special quote!! Thanks again!

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  10. Gah those are cute. And they sound so delicious!

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  11. These are so cute! And since I see nutella in the recipe I don't even have to ask if they were delicious too!

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  12. Congratulations on your Largest-Ever order!!! I can see you guys skyrocketing soon! You've got the potential, the talent, the passion and a great outlet and marketing medium here, you'll succeed, I can just feel it :)
    These cookies look fantastic, I would clearly eat the whole 8 dozen on the Nutella-filled version!
    I wish we had European Nutella here, though... the North American version has too much fat and sugar! Well, hahaha, it's not like the European one is light or anything!

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  13. Congratulations! I can't imagine that these beauties weren't a huge hit!

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  14. YUm! I am in Hull!

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  15. You are so creative! These cookies are sooo adorable!

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  16. Amazing, cute and look delish!
    Wishing I had one to munch on right now =)

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  17. Linzer cookies are the best cookies in the world! They are succch a labor of love and take sooooo long but hazelnuts/almonds and raspberry, with the butteriness and the powdered sugar... they are the BEST!

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  18. What a great recipe... linzer are so tasty and you made them look so cute! Very well done!!

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