This is a lovely, sweet treat for Valentine’s Day and a great one to share with your sweetheart! The perfect melt in your mouth cookie filled with bright and fruity raspberry jam that has just the right amount of crunch from the seeds and a heavy dusting of icing sugar to top it all off.

This delicious, small batch Linzer cookie for two, shaped into a big heart will be a delight not only for your eyes and but your tastebuds as well.

Linzer cookies are my husband’s favourite cookies of all time and with Valentine’s Day coming up I’ve been testing this oversized cookie as a special treat for him. I doubt he will share it with me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he will eat it in one sitting;) that’s how much he loves these cookies.

Make this beauty of a Linzer cookie to show someone how big your love is for them this Valentine’s Day and enjoy it together on this special day!

TIPS TO MAKE THE PERFECT
HEART-SHAPED LINZER COOKIES

This is a small batch recipe to make two big heart- shaped Linzer cookies. Just double or triple it if you would like to make more cookies.

Use high- quality ingredients if you can. This cookie has a high butter content which gives it its irresistible melt in your mouth consistency. I like to use grassfed unsalted butter and farm fresh eggs for this recipe.

The same applies to the jam as a key ingredient. Use a high-quality jam. I suggest raspberry or strawberry jam with seeds or seedless, that is totally up to you.

If you don’t have access to Vanilla sugar, follow my recipe for homemade Vanilla sugar or substitute with pure Vanilla bean extract and stay away from imitation Vanilla.

You can knead this dough by hand or use an electric mixer- it’s up to you!

Use a kitchen scale if you can, to weigh your ingredients rather than measuring them in cups. This will ensure accurate ingredients and will result in a great end product.

Chill the dough at least for 30 minutes in the fridge. If the dough is too warm you won’t be able to handle it properly.

To avoid it from sticking to your work surface, lightly flour it beforehand.

Once the cookies are in the oven watch them carefully and take them out once they are lightly golden brown and not too dark. Every oven works differently, and you might want to rotate your baking sheet midway through to ensure even baking.

INGREDIENTS

125 g         all-purpose flour
50 g          granulated sugar
90 g          unsalted butter
1                medium egg yolk
1 tsp          Vanilla sugar
1 tsp        lemon zest

75 g raspberry jam
1-2 tsp icing sugar

TOOLS YOU WILL NEED

medium sized bowl
hand mixer (optional)
rolling pin
heart- shaped cookie cutters in various sizes
baking sheet and parchment paper
small spatula or piping bag
flour sifter or fine mesh strainer

INSTRUCTIONS

In a medium sized bowl add your flour, sugar, butter, egg yolk, vanilla sugar and lemon zest for the cookie dough.

Knead the dough by hand or with a hand mixer until it becomes smooth.

Shape and flatten the dough into a disc and wrap it with some saran wrap.

Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from fridge and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the cookie dough with a rolling pin until it’s evenly 5-6 mm (around a ¼ inch) thin.

Cut out two big heart shaped cookies with your biggest cookie cutter which will be the bottom parts.

Repeat the process to make two more cookies the same size and cut out smaller hearts in order to have space for the jam to peek out.

Place the cookies on prepared baking sheets, leaving some space between the cookies. I like to bake the bottom and the top layers on two different baking sheets to allow for slightly longer baking time for the bottom cookies.

With the leftover dough you can repeat rolling it out and cut more for decorations or the baker to enjoy.

Bake the cookies in your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Every oven works differently, so keep a close eye on the cookies and eventually rotate baking sheet halfway in between to ensure even baking.

Allow cookies to cool down for 5 minutes before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool down completely.

Once your cookies are fully cooled, you can fill and assemble them. Add some jam with a spatula or a piping bag to the bottom cookies, leaving some space to the sides to avoid it from spilling out later.

Dust the top cookies with icing sugar and place them carefully on the jam filled bottom layers.

Arrange your giant Linzer cookies on a plate or package them in a gift box or wrap them with some cellophane wrapping and enjoy gifting and sharing it with your loved ones!