Out of the Mouthes of Carnivores: Linzer Cookies

Halloween to me is the unofficial 'kick off' of the holiday season, getting me ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. The rush of a holiday coming and going is almost as fun as the holiday itself. To some folks the best part of a holiday is it being over. Maybe because the stress of preparing is over, left over food or great family pictures. How about sales? Thats right, the great American urge to buy stuff we'll only use once a year. This is my first after holiday purchase of the year.
Working at Michael's has made me very aware of the crazy good deals that happen after holidays. All through October I was eying the cutest little linzer cookie cutter. At $7.99 it was't that cute lol. I decided to hold out till after Halloween for it to go on sale. Well as luck would have it, I got the last one at $1.79.

So this weeks recipe is one included in the linzer. Let's roll and cut some cookies!

Boo Ya!

I think the pumpkin and owl could still be used for Thanksgiving.

Linzer Sandwich Cookie

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup finely ground almonds*
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup of any seedless jam
powdered sugar (optional)

*We buy raw unsalted almonds at Winco's bulk bins for snacks, so I just used those. I used a coffee grinder for the job. Which has been retired from coffee grinding, I now use it for grinding black pepper and herb blends.

Now What:

In a small bowl combine flour, almonds and cinnamon; set aside. In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix only until incorporated. Divid dough into 2 pieces; press into small disks, about one inch thick. Wrap separately and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm enough to roll.

I don't have a rolling pin but this one worked great lol.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. On floured surface, roll out one disc of dough 1/8 inch thick ( keep remaining dough chilled). Cut half the dough using the round cuter with your chosen insert (this is the top part of the cookie); cut equal number of rounds using the cutter without the insert (this is the bottom of the cookie). Transfer to baking sheet. Dough scraps can be formed into a disk, chilled for at least 30 minutes and rerolled. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes; remove from sheet and cool completely.

Invert bottom cookies; spread with about a teaspoon of jam. Dust the top cookies with powdered sugar; gently sandwich cookies together. Makes about 20 cookies or 35 if its me cutting lol.

*I also clean out my coffe grinder to make powered sugar for the top cookie.