A Linzertorte is a tart made of rich buttery dough accentuated by almonds, lemon zest, and cinnamon, and traditionally filled with black currant preserves and topped with a lattice crust. In America, raspberry has replaced black currant as the jam of choice. Linzertortes are a traditional European Christmas pastry, a custom that is now enjoyed in the US as well.

Linzer cookies use the same recipe as the Linzertorte but instead the dough is cut into cookies and two of them form a sandwich around the preserves. The top cookie has a small cutout in its center (known as Linzer eyes), exposing the underlying jam and adding to the beauty of this cookie. While the traditional cutout is circular, at Christmas shapes of the holiday are used.

• 8 oz. (two sticks) butter
• 6 oz. sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup ground almonds (or hazelnuts if you prefer)
• Raspberry jam, as needed
• Powdered sugar, for dusting, as needed

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, one at a time, then the lemon zest and vanilla extract.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt together and then mix with the ground almonds.

Gradually add the combined dry ingredients to the wet ones in the mixer until fully combined. Divide the dough into two balls, wrap with plastic and rest in the refrigerator for one hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the balls of dough on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness, (depending on the size of your board you may need to divide the balls in half again and do four batches). Next, cut out 2-inch diameter rounds with a cookie cutter.

The trick to transferring the cookies onto the cookie sheet without distorting their shape is to cut out the cookie shapes on parchment paper that has been dusted with flour. You can then chill the unbaked cookies for 30 min.-1 hour for the dough to firm up.

With a smaller cutter, in the shape you desire, cut out the centers of half the cookies. These will be the tops. If you wish you can combine all the scraps and re-roll for a few extra cookies. Place the cookies on greased or parchment paper lined baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden.

Keep a close eye on them to prevent them from overcooking. Ovens vary and 12 minutes is a guideline. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Spread some of the jam on each solid cookie. Sprinkle cut out cookie with powdered sugar. Top each cookie with the halves with the cut-out center. Dollop a little more jam into the cut out if needed.