Linzer Cookies

[Music]hi guys I’m Laura Vitale on this episodeof Laura in the kitchen I wanted toshare with you an updated Linzer cookierecipe because I think it’s not onlyperfect for any time of the year butthey’re really perfect for this time ofyear and like baking and gift-giving andcookies these are my dad’s like favoritecookie that I make so I wanted to shareit with you because it is a little bitupdated and different than my old onethat’s been on for like years and yearsand years so and I mean when you’rethrough what I’ve got going on in asmall skillet I was toasting up somepecans you can see they’re nice andtoasty and golden and delicious and theysmell really fragrant you can do this inthe oven too but I just find it easierto just do it on a dry skillet I likeadding pecans to my dough you can usetraditionally you use like an almond orlike a hazelnut which all of those workI like a pecan it gives you a little bitof like a pecan Sandie like touch andjust those are like one of my favoritecookies too so I think the mixture ofeverything together is just so I’m gonnado I’m gonna use those but before we getto that I’ve got my standing mixer witha paddle attachment I’m gonna add somebutter you want to make sure it’s reallysoft at room temperature mine was justsitting well the oven was preheatedearlier to that we’re gonna add somesugar very basic things you probablyalready have on hand for the season butthey’re fantastic and I like to add alittle bit of vanilla bean paste now ifI’m gonna use almonds I also like to usea grating of lemon zest so fantastic andfragrant but if I’m using pecans that Idon’t like a little bit heavier on theManila by using the vanilla bean pasterather than vanilla extract so that’sjust my what I’m fancying I’m gonna goahead and I’m gonna just cream thistogether for a couple minutes in themeantime I’m going to take my pecans andI’m going to just pulverize them in amini food processor so I’m gonna work onboth and then I’ll show you the nextstep add in the egg and let that go fora couple minutes – it’s really importantthat you allow this mixture to get youknow toto mix quite a bit because it’ll end upin the most beautiful flaky amazingcookie on the end now we add flour saltwhoaknow them and our ground up ground it uppecans which smells so good when youtoast them it’s unreal and then once itcomes togetherI mean I’ll show you I’ll show you whatyou’re looking for gorgeous so a doughit’s pretty sticky at this point butreally trying to make sure that youfight the urge to use any excess flourbecause you don’t need it it’s gonnawork out perfectly in the end I’m justtaking my dough out of my mixture herewhich how rude that I was right in frontof you and I’m just trying to like pullit together into like a nice disc andI’m just gonna wrap this baby in someplastic wrap much easier to just dump itdirectly on the plastic wrap by the wayand I’m gonna pop this into the fridgefor a couple hours or so or until itcools enough you know it sets enoughthat you can roll it out do that feelslike a nice soft baby’s bottom and thenwe’ll proceed I’m not crazy I know thatI’m crumbling some parchment paper andthat’s because this is quite a crumblydough you want it to be that’s whatmakes these so lovely so I find it mucheasier once your dough rest for cloud inthe fridge hold ononce it rests for a couple hours in thefridge let it come to room temperaturefor about 15 minutes to by the doughinto two pieces and then just startrolling out each piece in some parchmentor some wax paper I find this to be amuch easier way than to fight withcrumbling dough all over your counteractually just use my rolling pin justpress it outthat is perfect and I’m just gonna uselike a round cookie cutter I’ll show youa cool little tip remember you’re gonnaneed a top and a bottom so you’re goingto need two for each cookie if thatmakes sense and to the top we’ll do acouple of those and then we’ll do somesnowflakes what do you think tis theseason you know – oh I need one moreyeah I need one more and we’ll do somestars to the top want to make sure thatthat Jam Peaks through so you just takethis is a piping tip I’ll just take oneand just do a little cut that out andthen when we go to put on the bakingsheet then I will take that out I’m justgonna go ahead and pop these into theoven to 350 for 8 to 10 minutes or untilthe bottom is a lightly golden brown I’mgonna go ahead and make a few more I’mgonna take this other half and pop it inthe freezer so that I’ve got cookiedough Freddy oh my holiday baking whichis another great thing about this isthat it keeps really well it’s gonna popthis in I’ll show you what they looklike when they’re done these babies werein the oven for right around 9 minutesyou can see the edges or golden brownthat’s what you want I’m letting themcool here on a wire rack my second batchjust came out I’m gonna let those cooland dress those up later but these arereally simple you’re basically making alittle sandwiches right you I know yoursare gonna be so much prettier not if I’mnot offended it’s fine listen it’s weall have our weaknesses and we all haveour strengths making cute things is nota strength of mine delicious yes I canget to that but cute now I you take alittle bit of jam right this is a littlelike a seedless raspberry jam you wantto warm it up a little bit in themicrowave I like to use the back of atiny little tea spoon because I justfind that to be easier to work with butyou know whatever and then you just takethat on top like like as Oh uh-huh okayand then once you dust it with somesnowysugar they look magic and perfect andbeautiful and everybody loves them andmy dad loves them and I cannot wait tomake these for him because you know it’sgreat to think about my dad it’s reallya great thing about everybody is thatwhen you give them food that they loveI’m gonna worry about whether it fitsyou’re not worried about whether you getit on sale it is so much more meaningfulI’ll go through the trouble of makingcute little shapes for him because Ilove him but at least seen you know he’sgetting something that he truly enjoysand he’s gonna share maybe he will maybehe won’tI don’t know he’s not that much of ashare that’s it now I like to give youanother tip by the way before I continuebecause I want to set you up for successwhen you are lifting the cookie off ofthe parchment paper after you cut themyou do not want to lift them with yourhands you want to use pretend this as aroad oh okay you want to use a flatspatula like this and you want to go onthe side and you just kind of do one ofthese and you put that cookie dough onyour baking sheet because they’re verycrumbly very much like my grahamcrackers they’re crumbly but that’s whatmakes them so delicious speaking ofclosures you know I mean if with themyou go love themeverybody will love them Laura anypersonal comments addressed the team dothe best[Music]