These homemade Linzer cookies are soft, buttery shortbread cookie sandwiches filled with festive fruit preserves and dusted with powdered sugar. They’re easy to make and look amazing on a holiday dessert table!
I love traditional cookie recipes at Christmastime. If you’re craving more nostalgic Christmas cookies, try my homemade Polish kolaczki, classic lemon thumbprint cookies, and these easy Danish butter cookies.
If you’ve never tried fruit-filled, sugar-dusted Linzer cookies before, you’re in for such a treat. Linzer cookies are assembled like homemade alfajores, another favorite Christmas sandwich cookie. I’ve been eating them forever, at the holidays and beyond! Here’s why I’ve fallen in love with this easy cookie recipe year after year:
- Festive. Linzer cookies are so pretty! They’re delicate shortbread cookies filled with colorful fruit preserves, topped with a snowy, powdered sugar finish. They look great on a cookie plate next to more treats like sugar cookies, classic rugelach, and peanut butter balls.
- Sweet and soft. Biting into a Linzer cookie is always super satisfying. I love the contrast of the crisp, buttery shortbread against the sweet and soft fruit jelly filling.
- Easy ingredients. Even though they look impressive on a dessert table, this is one of my easiest holiday cookie recipes. You can count the ingredients on one hand.
- Adaptable. Linzer cookies are so much fun to make and adapt with different jams and flavors. I change up the filling, add citrus zest, or use flavoring extracts to customize these Christmas cookies in any way that I like.
Austrian “Linzer Augen” or Linzer Eyes, are shortbread cookie sandwiches with small, round cut-outs (“eyes”) in the upper cookies where the fruit filling peeks through. Linzer cookies are named after the Linzer torte, a pastry filled with preserves and topped with a lattice crust. The main difference between a Linzer cookie and a Linzer torte, aside from the assembly, is that the fruit filling in the cookie is unbaked. These are a perfect Christmas cookie filled with nostalgia, you’re going to love them!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Linzer cookies are similar to shortbread cookies, made from pantry staples like softened butter, flour, and sugar (plus your choice of jam for the filling). These are some quick ingredient notes, and you’ll find a printable ingredients list in the recipe card after the post.
- Butter – Brought to room temperature. I like to bake with salted butter, but unsalted butter is perfectly fine, too.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar works best in shortbread cookie recipes. You could also use light brown sugar like I use for my brown sugar cut-out cookies.
- Vanilla – You could also substitute vanilla extract with almond extract for almond cookies.
- Flour and Salt – Classic Linzer cookie recipes call for almond flour, but I like to use all-purpose for convenience’s sake. I also prefer the texture. If you’d rather use almond flour in your Linzer cookies (like in a traditional torte), consider using ¾ cup of almond flour per 1 cup of regular flour.
- Fruit Preserves – I like to use raspberry or strawberry preserves, but you can fill these Linzer cookies with any jam or fruit filling you’d like. Other good choices are black currant, peach or apricot jam, cherry, and fig preserves. See the Tips section later on for more easy variations.
- Powdered Sugar – Also called icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar, for dusting over the sandwich cookies.
Even if this is your first time making homemade Linzer cookies, this recipe is foolproof. It does call for chilling the dough, but the steps are quick. Scroll down to the recipe card for printable instructions.
- Make the cookie dough. First, you’ll prepare a simple shortbread cookie dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, and pop it into the fridge to chill for an hour.
- Roll and cut out the cookies. Now, take out the dough and roll it out to ¼” thickness. Use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut out the dough into 2” rounds. Then, cut a small hole or shape in the center of one-half of the rounds. These will be the tops of your Linzer cookies.
- Chill. Arrange the cut-out cookie dough on a lined baking sheet. Place the whole thing into the freezer while the oven preheats.
- Bake. Afterward, bake the cookies at 350ºF for 18-10 minutes. Finally, cool the cookies on a wire rack.
- Assemble. Line up your solid cookies (without the holes in the centers). Spoon jam preserves over each cookie, and gently press a top cookie over the filling to make a sandwich. Once your Linzer cookies are all assembled, dust the tops with powdered sugar, and enjoy!
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Measure the flour correctly. This recipe makes a drier cookie dough, but it should not crumble apart. If your dough is too dry, it could be due to overmeasuring. Make sure that you measure the flour properly using a food scale, or by spooning the flour into the measuring cup before leveling it off. Don’t scoop the flour straight from the bag or you’ll end up with too much flour in the dough.
- Different flavors. Play around with different flavors by adding citrus zest, like lemon or orange zest, or spices like cinnamon and nutmeg to the cookie dough.
- Don’t want to use fruit filling? Try filling your Linzer cookies with Nutella, dulce de leche, peanut butter, or cookie butter instead.
Want to Make Ahead?
Linzer cookie dough is great to make ahead of time. It comes in handy during the busy holiday season! I’ll usually prepare the dough, flatten it into a disc, and wrap it for the fridge as written. Instead of refrigerating, freeze the dough for up to 2 months. Thaw the dough in the fridge and it’ll be firm and chilled to hold the shape of the cookie cutter, just as the recipe asks for.
- To store. While the Linzer cookie dough needs to be refrigerated before baking, you can keep the baked and assembled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They’ll last for 3-4 days.
- Freeze. To freeze the finished Linzer cookies, seal them in an airtight container or freezer bag and keep them frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw the cookies on the counter and give them a fresh dusting with powdered sugar before serving.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Chilling Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 38 minutes
- Yield: 40 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Festive, homemade Linzer cookies are soft, buttery shortbread cookie sandwiches filled with fruit preserves and dusted with powdered sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup raspberry or strawberry preserves
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in the vanilla and salt and mix until combined.
- Turn mixer to low and add in the flour, mixing until just combined.
- Remove the dough, flatten it into a disk and wrap in cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit for 10 minutes, to take the chill off.
- Dust a clean counter with flour and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 1/4- inch thick.
- Cut out the dough using a round 2- inch round biscuit cutter or cookie cutter. In half of the rounds, cut out circle (or shape) in the centers. You can use a small cookie cutter, or even the back of a piping tip.
- Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and place baking sheet in the freezer.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. When the oven is preheated, remove the baking sheet from the freezer and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.
- Transfer the cookie to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, spread about 1 teaspoon of preserves on the bottoms of the solid cookies. Gently press the cut out cookies on top of the preserves.
- Dust all the cookies with powdered sugar.
Notes
- Store airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 141
- Sugar: 8.9 g
- Sodium: 32.2 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 18.5 g
- Protein: 1.2 g
- Cholesterol: 18.3 mg
I’ve tried a couple of linzer tart recipes and none of them hit the mark, but this one did! From the shape to the size to the taste, this looks and tastes exactly like the linzer tarts we get from ou go-to bakeries, if not better. They were a huge hit with everyone and I will now use this recipe and only this recipe going forward!!!
I did add an egg to the recipe based on the comments and the dough was perfect. After the dough was refrigerated I worked with the dough in small sections, a handful at a time.
Question: have you ever tried the recipe using less butter? It tastes great the way it is I’m just curious if using a bit less would impact the taste. Thank you!
I made a mistake with the butter and it was so dry I went back and added the required butter. I like the idea of adding the egg
Question…. ?
Yield is 40 cookies completed? (80 pieces?)
or 20 cookies completed (40 pieces?)
Trying to solve if I should double recipe! Lol
I got 36 completed cookies. I did have to add 1 egg to get the dough to come together.
Outrageously delicious! The first time I made the dough I overmixed. I was able to save after the dough was refrigerated for a couple hours. I put dough back in mixer and added a tablespoon of water until the dough was more pulled together. I knew I over mixed it, because when I went to roll it out after refrigerating it, it was very crumbly. The solution worked well for me. I’m making them for the second time today and fingers crossed that I don’t over mix the dough. Taste was not affected in any way. These were delicious and are definitely a keeper.
So so glad you like these!!
I have been making this recipe for many many years. This looks like Ina’s recipe. Because linzer cookies are supposed to have an almond flavor I add 3 tsp almond extract. Also I add 1 egg. The texture always comes out perfect for rolling, i have gotten a ton of compliments with this recipe. I even was told my cookies were so much better than someone’s bakery.
I also found the dough a bit crumbly (the cookies cracked while in the oven) but it was still delicious, and the powdered sugar covered the cracks! Perfect shortbread-like consistency–will definitely be making these again! 🙂
I made the recipe as written and it was initially too crumbly when mixing with the mixer, but mixed perfectly when I used my hands (I imagine the warmth from my hands helped to soft and mix the butter further). After sitting in the fridge overnight, I was able to roll it out on a flour surface after warming up smaller sections with my hands (like clay) – once warmed it rolled out nicely with light flouring, and the cookies kept their shape after baking. I actually made this along side a linzer recipe with almond flour and have to say I actually preferred the way these came out – they stayed so soft and buttery even several days after baking/assembling.
Hi all. I had read the comments before starting. I saw many saying the dough would not roll and crumbled. I was tempted to add the suggested egg. However recipe calls for enough butter, that I didn’t think it would be an issue. So I threw caution to the wind and made recipe as Shelly suggested. I stored dough in fridge for 24 hours. I left on counter for about an hour. I was in the middle of an Italian butter cookie crisis.
When it came time to roll, I opted not to roll on a dusted surface but I placed dough between two pieces of wax paper. Rolled beautifully. No issues with staying together, crumbled, or sticking to rolling pin.
Now for baking time…as said above ovens very. My cookies baked to a golden brown edge at 350 for only 10 minutes. So keep an eye on your first batch to see what’s best with your oven.
Cookies look and taste amazing! Shh…don’t tell me aunt. I didn’t use her recipe. I even woke my husband up try them.
Thanks Shelly for sharing your recipe.
Merry Christmas
I will never make this recipe again!!! I tried my best to roll out the dough but it kept on breaking! It never came together, too dry, what a waste of money and time!!! Due to my frustration, I tossed the dough that was before I read the comments. Please rewrite your post or make a correction and add and egg or something for easier rolling!!! To save others from disappointment.
I followed the recipe to a T and the batter was too crumbly. It would not hold together. I wish I read the comments but I was able to catch the fact that it is recommended to add one egg. I added one large egg and it did come together. I have it in the fridge will chill and see how it rolls out.
As with many other posts, I also had issues with the dough holding together. I followed the recipe as written. Now I wish I had read other comments and added an egg to the dough.