Christmas Linzer Jam Biscuits

It's up to you.

12 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Prepare ingredients and plates

   Weigh 220 g of flour, 60 g of ground almonds, 140 g of cold butter and 80 g of icing sugar separately. Keep the 20 g of finish icing sugar in another small bowl: they do not go into the dough. Cut the butter into cubes of about 1 cm. Cover two baking paper baking tray and prepares a 5 cm round cookie cutter as well as a small round for the windows.

2. Rub the mixture to a crumbly texture

   Pour the flour, ground almonds and 80 g of icing sugar into a large bowl. Mix with a spoon, then add the cold butter cubes. Rub the butter and dry ingredients between your fingertips for 2 to 3 minutes, lifting the mixture: you must get fine crumbs, without large piece of butter. It is this gesture that is called "sanding"; avoid long pressing with the palms, which would warm the butter.

3. Add the egg and collect the dough

   Break the egg in a small bowl, remove any piece of shell, then beat it a few seconds with a fork to mix white and yolks. Pour it into the bowl with 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix with the spatula, then gather the crumbs with your hands by gently pressing. Stop as soon as the dough holds in a ball: it does not need to be kneaded like a bread dough.

4. Let the dough sit flat

   Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disc about 2 cm thick. Wrap the discs and place them in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This flat shape allows the dough to cool regularly and facilitates display. At the exit, it must be firm; if it is too hard for the roller, leave it for 5 minutes on the worktop.

5. Spread the first half

   Turn the oven on at 170 °C, in conventional oven setting (no fan), and place an oven rack in the middle. Place a disc of dough between two sheets of baking paper. Pass the roller from the center to the edges, turning the sheets regularly, until a thickness of 3 mm is obtained. If the dough sticks to the paper or deforms during cutting, put it back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

6. Cut out the funds and windows

   Remove the top sheet and cut out 18 whole discs of 5 cm. Move them on a plate with a thin spatula, spacing them by at least 2 cm. Spread the second half to the same thickness, cuts out another 18 discs and removes a small circle in the center of each. Place these openwork tops on the second baking tray; have 18 bottoms and 18 on it before cooking.

7. Use the drops without thickening the cookies

   Gently gather the drops of dough, without kneading them for a long time, then spread them again to 3 mm. First complete the 36 discs if necessary. The amount of dough can give small extra cookies: cook them apart rather than making the 36 pieces thicker. The small circles removed from the windows also cook, but faster; watch them separately.

8. Cook one baking tray at a time

   Bake a first baking tray for 10 to 12 minutes. Observe the edges: they should become slightly golden while the center remains clear. Pull out the baking tray with oven gloves and bake the next one; the openwork tops can color a little faster. If you cook additional offcuts, adapt their time to their size, without forgetting them in the oven.

9. Let the shortbread harden by cooling

   Leave the biscuits on their baking tray for 5 minutes: they are fragile at the exit of the oven. Then slide a spatula under each and transfer them to a wire rack. Wait about 25 to 30 minutes, until they are completely cold on and under. A jam placed on a biscuit still hot would soften it and slide more easily.

10. Powder them on before assembling them

    Aligns the 18 openwork cookies on a sheet of baking paper. Put the 20 g of finishing icing sugar in a small strainer and pat gently over the biscuits to get a fine veil. Do this before placing the tops on the jam so that the windows remain red. The sugar dropped on the paper should not be added to the filling.

11. Spread the jam and close the sandwiches

    Stir the 150 g of raspberry jam in a bowl to soften it. Deposits about 8 g, or a full teaspoon, in the center of each of the 18 funds; spread the rest among them without overflowing. Spread with the back of the spoon leaving 3 to 4 mm free on the edge. Place a powdered top on each bottom and press very lightly on its edges, never in the middle of the window.

12. Let the two cookies stick together

    Arrange the shortbread cookies assembled flat, without stacking them, and wait 30 minutes in a cool room. The jam should hold the top when you lift a cookie. Then store the sandwiches in a box by separating the layers with baking paper; keep the small cookies without filling apart to keep their crunch.