Hungarian Style Linzer Cookies

As you probably know by now, beginner-friendly baking is my way to go. I have baked these Linzer cookies for years, with sugar or as a sugar-free version. Both ways work perfectly fine.

Hungarian style Linzer cookies are not only for Christmas. They work for every occasion. I used sour cherry jam mixed with forest berry jam, but back home we often use apricot jam as well.

Feel free to use any jam you’d like. Also, if you would like to make it sugar-free, you can easily substitute the sugar with any type of sweetener.

Where are Linzers originally coming from?

Linzer is originally a type of cake, similar to a buttery shortbread, topped with fruit preserves and crushed nuts and has a lattice design on the top.

Linzer Cookies are the cookie form of the cake. you look behind the scene ( i love digging in history ) then probably the first thing that pops up – Linzer is coming from Linz, Austria.

The first Linzer type of cake recipe appears in a cookbook in the 1700s coming from Verona. That’s why it is considered the oldest cake in the world.

Could Linzer be Hungarian?

Ruszwurm cafe is the oldest legendary bakery in Budapest, Hungary: it has been in the same place in the Buda Castle since 1827. The family-run confectionery, which retains its original, protected equipment and furnishings, which miraculously survived the siege of 1849 and 1944.

Antal Müller was the one who made Linzer cakes after the War of Independence. And Müller named his new work after a great lieutenant in 1848, Rudolf Linzer.

At the end of the day, there is no rock-hard evidence where the amazing dessert is coming from.

Be careful because they are addictive.

Step by step video here:

Hungarian Style Linzer Cookies

Print Recipe

Prep Time 15

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine European, Hungarian

Ingredients

300 g All-purpose flour
230 g Unsalted Butter
100 g Powdered Raw Cane Sugar or Regular Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg Yolk
Zest of 1 lemon
Vanilla Powdered Sugar for Sprinkle
Jam of your choice

Instructions

Preheat the oven for 355F.
Sift the flour into the bowl and add the sugar and the baking powder. Then add the butter and crumble it together with the flour until the butter dissolve.
Then add the egg yolk, the vanilla extract, the lemon zest and start kneading it. Need it until the dough comes together with a smooth texture in the bowl with no crumbs or chunks.

Wrap the dough in plastic and put it in the fridge at least for 30 minutes to an hour.
Slightly flour the rolling board and flatten the dough out. Use cookie cutters and start to cut the dough. Repeat it until no dough is left.
Put the cut out cookies on to the parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and bake it for 7-10 minutes. It depends on how thick your cookies are. 🙂
They are done when slightly golden brown on the edges. Remove from the oven immediately.

Fill them up with the type of jam you desire and sprinkle them with vanilla powdered sugar once cooled.
It's perfect for a gift because it stays delicious for days.