LINZER AUGEN

December 8, 2014

8th December! Linzer Augen are traditional Austrian christmas cookies. They originated in the town Linz in upper Austria and are easily recognizable by the 3 ‘eyes’. As far as I know there are no 3-eyed people in Linz – so I guess 3 holes just looked nicer on the cookie. You will be able to buy these cookies in Austria and some of the neighboring countries but it’s very easy to make these short crust pastries yourself.

LINZER AUGEN 

• 300g white flour
• 100g powdered sugar [+ more for dusting]
• 80g ground almonds
• 2 packages vanilla sugar
• 200g butter [room temperature]
• 2 egg yolks
• apricot / red currant jam

_ place flour, sugar, almonds and vanilla sugar onto a work surface [mix roughly]

_ rub in softened butter and egg yolks [will look too dry – but the dough comes together after a minute or two]

_ form a ball and refrigerate for at least 1 hour

_ preheat oven to 180°C

_ roll out dough [about 3mm thick]

_ cut out cookies [as many with as without holes]

_ place onto a baking sheet covered baking tray [leaving a little space – they will grow just a hint bigger]

_ bake for about 10 minutes [until the edges turn a soft golden]

_ let cookies cool completely

_ make little cookie sandwiches [no-hole cookie – red currant jam – 3-hole cookie]

_ let sit for a few hours until the jam has dried enough to keep the cookies together

_ dust with powdered sugar

Tags: austrian, cookie, linz