Raspberry Pecan Linzer Cookies

I love holiday baking at Christmas time and enjoy getting into the festive spirit.  Although, during the month of December it can be hard to find the time and energy to get much baking done.  However, my Raspberry Pecan Linzer cookies are worth making as they're truly delicious and look impressive on a holiday cookie platter. While they take a little effort to make and assemble (rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters to shape each cookie), I have some time saving tips to make the process easier.

If you aren't familiar with Linzer cookies, they're cookies sandwiched with jam or preserves and the cookie dough always contains nuts, usually ground almonds (I use pecans).  I like to toast the pecans before grinding them up to ensure the pecan flavour really comes through in the finished cookie.  Not to mention, they add a subtle savoury element which offsets the sweetness of the raspberry jam.

To simplify things a little, I find that making the cookie dough ahead of time and storing it in the fridge is a good idea.  Since the dough takes all of 10 minutes to make, I do this a few days before I want to actually bake the cookies, that way the dough is all ready to go and makes things seem and feel easier on the day of baking.  Additionally, once you've rolled out the dough and shaped all the cookies, you could store your cookie trays in the fridge or freezer for a day or two before baking.  At which time, all you'd need to do is pop the trays in the oven and assemble the cookies.

While I love to make and can my own jam in the summer time, using a store bought jam to sandwich between the cookies makes life a lot easier.  I recommend using raspberry jam, but blackberry, blueberry, currant, strawberry or any other flavour of jam would work just fine too.  If you want to try making your own preserves, I've included my recipe for cardamom raspberry jam below. However, I'd recommend using frozen raspberries this time of year because the imported fresh berries can be a little pricey and less flavourful.

Here's the cookie dough recipe:

1/2 cup of pecans, toasted in the oven and crushed
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
zest of 1/2 a lemon
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of all purpose flour sifted
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Icing sugar to dust on the tops of each cookie
Raspberry jam for sandwiching between the cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line three baking sheets with parchment paper.  On one of the cookies sheets add the pecans and toast in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes while making the cookie dough.  Let the toasted pecans sit for a few minutes to cool before crushing.  Using a mortar and pestle, grind the pecans into a coarse meal.  Alternatively, you could grind the toasted pecans in a food processor or place the nuts in a large Ziploc bag and bash with a rolling pin until nicely ground up.  However, if you use a food processor, you may need to add a teaspoon of icing sugar to prevent the nuts from grinding up into a paste.

In a medium or large mixing bowl, add the butter, lemon zest, sugar and beat until incorporated. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix again.  Sift the flour cinnamon and salt into the butter mixture and mix until the dough comes together.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or to use at a later time.

Un-wrap the cookie dough and cut in half.  On a heavily floured work surface, roll out the first half of dough to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Using a round cookie cutter, shape out each bottom of sandwich cookies and place on the baking tray (I use a thin metal spatula for transferring to the tray to prevent breaking or tearing the un-baked cookies).  Then do the same with the other half of dough, with the exception of using a smaller cookie cutter to cut out a star shape from the top cookie.  This gives the cookies a nice decorative finish and allows the jam to be visible.  All in all, I usually get about 10 finished cookies out the the dough, but as long as you have matching pairs of tops and bottoms it doesn't really matter how many cookies you end up with.  Place the cookie trays in the fridge for a hour before baking (or the freezer for 30 minutes) to ensure the cookies keep their shape while baking in the oven.

Bake in a 350 F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Let the cookies cool on the tray before assembling.  Dust the cooled top cookies with some icing sugar while still on the tray.  Then smother raspberry jam on the bottom of each cookie before placing the top cookie onto it.

Cardamom Raspberry Jam recipe:

1.2 kg or 2 pounds of fresh or frozen raspberries
4 cups of granulate sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup of fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons of ground cardamon
pinch of salt

Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan and let simmer away for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.  Once the mixture has darkened, reduced and thickened a little, decant to sterilised jam jars or freezer jam jars.  The jam can be directly stored in the fridge for about 1 month or process the jam jars in a boiling water canner if you want to store in your pantry for a later use.  However, I recommend checking out a site such as the one I've attached below for more information about safely processing and canning jam.  http://www.bernardin.ca/pages/step_by_step___your_guide_to_home_canning/32.php  

Happy Holidays & Bon appetit!