The holiday season is officially around the corner and nothing gets me in the spirit more than baking Christmas cookies! We usually kick-off our baking with our Czech "Linecke" cookies... or Linzer cookies. Although labor intensive, they always come out soft and chewy with a sweet filling surprise and we love to enjoy these during the holidays. The classic recipe calls for a raspberry preserve filling, however I like to experiment with other flavors as well. Aside from raspberry, I used an apricot preserve, a blueberry preserve, and also a pumpkin pecan butter that was surprisingly delicious! Linecke Cookies
*1/4 cup butter, softened
*1 tablespoon oil
*3/4 cup sugar
*Grated peel of one lemon
*1 large egg
*1 teaspoon cooking rum
*2 cups of flour
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*Fruit preserves of your choice
*Confectioner's sugar
Beat butter, oil, sugar, and lemon peel until light and blended. Beat in egg and rum until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to sugar mixture and stir by hand just until dough is soft. Divide dough in half, shape each half into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Between 2 pieces of wax paper, roll out on disk to 1/4-inch thickness, Cut out cookies using a round cookie cutter, Using a 1/2-inch shaped cutter, cut centers out of half the cookies. Place cookies 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden around edges. Transfer to rack to cool. Repeat with remaining disk, re-rolling scraps to get as many cookies as possible. Spread solid cookies with preserves and sprinkle cut-out cookies lightly with confectioners' sugar. Top each solid cookie with a cut-out cookie.
*1/4 cup butter, softened
*1 tablespoon oil
*3/4 cup sugar
*Grated peel of one lemon
*1 large egg
*1 teaspoon cooking rum
*2 cups of flour
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*Fruit preserves of your choice
*Confectioner's sugar
Beat butter, oil, sugar, and lemon peel until light and blended. Beat in egg and rum until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to sugar mixture and stir by hand just until dough is soft. Divide dough in half, shape each half into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Between 2 pieces of wax paper, roll out on disk to 1/4-inch thickness, Cut out cookies using a round cookie cutter, Using a 1/2-inch shaped cutter, cut centers out of half the cookies. Place cookies 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden around edges. Transfer to rack to cool. Repeat with remaining disk, re-rolling scraps to get as many cookies as possible. Spread solid cookies with preserves and sprinkle cut-out cookies lightly with confectioners' sugar. Top each solid cookie with a cut-out cookie.
