Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Linzer Sablés (TWD)


This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by noskos of Living the Life: Linzer Sablés. They are buttery, lightly spiced sandwich cookies filled with jam.


They're made with the ground nuts of your choice - I decided to use ground almonds (also called almond meal). You can purchase almond meal from the store, or you can make your own if you have a food processor. If you decide to go the DIY route, make sure you add a teaspoon or two of the flour used in the recipe into the food processor. This will allow you to get a much finer meal, and prevent it from turning into a paste. I also used a fine meshed sieve to sift my almond meal, and then threw the larger bits back into the food processor for another whirl. You can do without the sifting, but you might end up with a grittier texture to your cookies.



I had no problems with this recipe; it was really simple. The dough was extremely easy to work with and rolled out nicely between two sheets of plastic wrap. I think some bakers had problems with the dough warming up too quickly after it was taken out of the refrigerator, making it difficult to create the cut outs. I was in a rush, so I put my dough in the freezer and had no problems at all. It was ready after 45 minutes in the freezer, just as Dorie promised. I made half the cookies with a flower cut out in the middle, and the other half with a round cut out (using the end of a piping tip as Dorie suggests). I'm not sure which one I like better.



The dough is supposed to be rolled out to a 1/4-inch thickness. If you're making single cookies, the 1/4-inch thickness is just fine. If you're going to make the sandwiches, however, I would recommend rolling the dough out just a tad thinner so you don't end up with such a thick sandwich (maybe 1/8-inch?). I'm also not sure how Dorie got 25 sandwiches out of this recipe. I even used a smaller cookie cutter (1.5 inches instead of 2 inches) - and I was only able to get 16.


These were delightful cookies that were surprisingly easy to make. They were slightly nutty, with just a hint of cinnamon and cloves. The burst of flavor from the jam in the middle was wonderful. I filled my cookies with some strawberry guava jam that I recently received from a friend in Hawaii - yum!


Thanks noskos, for choosing the Linzer Sablés. If you would like the recipe, you can find it here. Make sure you visit the TWD Blog Roll to see how everyone else enjoyed these lovely cookies!

* Recipes notes:
- If you don't have cookie cutters, don't let that stop you from making these. You can either use the rim of a glass, or simply cut them into squares or rectangles.
- If you want to make your own almond meal, 7/8 cup (3/4 + 1/8) whole almonds = 1.5 cups ground.
- If you roll the dough out thinner (as recommended above), make sure you also decrease the baking time.
- These cookies puff up slightly in the oven but not very much, so you can place them close together on the baking sheet.
- I used my baking stone for the cookies and did not need any parchment paper.
- I only needed 1/4 cup jam for the 16 sandwiches I was able to get from the recipe. You can just put a small dollop of jam on the cookie and then place the other cookie on top. There is no need to spread the jam first.
- If you're going to dust them with confectioner's sugar, make sure you do so before sandwiching the cookies together; otherwise, you'll end up with confectioner's sugar covering up your pretty jam in the middle.
- These cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months (skip the confectioner's sugar dusting if you're going to freeze them).
- For more recipe tips, click here.


35 comments:

  1. Wow they look so beautiful. I sure am going to try these as you had written theywere easy to make.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm seeing lots of these little cookies on the net now that the holidays are right around the corner. And as I looked at them I wondered how to get that little hole in the middle, you solved that problem for me! I never would have thought of using a decorating tip! THank you Jaime!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your cookies are beautiful! I'm jealous! Do you think that you can freeze them with the jam in the middle? I was pondering rolling the rest of mine out and freezing them for a week or so and then putting the jam in but it didn't occur to me to freeze them with the jam until I read your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So pretty! You did a wonderful job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. These look gorgeous! What a beautiful cookie, especially to share for the holidays.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Strawberry guava jam?! Yum! And I love your cute little flower cookies - bite sized!

    ReplyDelete
  7. They look great. I've read some others who had the same experience with the quantity (myself included).

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your filling does sound yummy, lucky girl!
    I like the tiny flower cut out best but I can totally see why you're torn between the two. They are both cute.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yum! They look beautiful. I made them with hazelnuts and nutella. So good! And you're right, EASY! (Nice after the last few weeks!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. So cute-and the strawberry guava jam sounds delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Those are super cute Jamie! Plump and sweet...

    I really like the fact that you took the time to give intelligent tips!

    ReplyDelete
  12. they look very pretty! glad you enjoyed them. i like the flower cut out better, so cute :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your cookies turned out beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your linzer sables look perfect. I love them!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yeah, my yield was waaaay off. Oh well - delicious all the same!

    ReplyDelete
  16. gorgeous! I did flowers too and I think they look very cute!

    ReplyDelete
  17. strawberry guava--delicious! they look great, although i totally agree with your thickness comment.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful linzer flowers! Thanks so much for the make-your-own-nut-flour tip; I wanted mine a bit finer but didn't want to end up with hazelnut butter.

    ReplyDelete
  19. These are perfect. And I love straw-guava jam. Yum. Your photos are perfect and so inviting.

    ReplyDelete
  20. They look perfect, and the jam sounds so yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Your cookies look great and I love your idea about using a sieve to make the almond meal. Wish I had thought of it :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. did you say strawberry guava jam? that sounds unique and utterly wonderful! nice job on the cookies, jaime. :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Jaime, thanks for the tip on the "sift the second time around." I did my own in the the FP, but was a little rushed and so I didn't think about that. Good lesson for the next time around. I did double it so that I could use them for "friends" and neighbors. Thanks for the great ideas. You are so smart. I also always bypass the refrigerator chilling and go right to the deep freezer. Works out the best.
    Your cookies are so lovely.
    Merry Christmas
    AmyRuth

    ReplyDelete
  24. Nice job on the cookies! They look perfect! I love the flavors you used!

    ReplyDelete
  25. These look so pretty! I don't know how Dorie got that many cookies either. I think I only got 14!

    ReplyDelete
  26. These look fabulous - glad it went well for you.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Everyone's Linzer's look so cute and yours look PERFECT! I can't wait to make these, but I wanted to wait til I wasn't feeling under the weather. Otherwise I'm sure I'd just mess it up somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great pointers! You're cookies look great, personally I like the ones with the flower cut out in the center. They just look a tiny bit fancier.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Great tip with adding a bit of flour to grind the nuts and the sifting.

    Your linzers turned out beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  30. These look so perfect! They are great inspiration! BTW, I have sent you an award and a meme: http://yesdessertmenu.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-very-first-award.html

    ReplyDelete
  31. I love checking in to see your beautiful pictures! You are so talented, I could use one of those cookies right now!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Adorable cookies! I just got back from Hawaii with some guava jelly so I'm going to give these cookies a try. Thanks for the inspiration.

    Any thoughts on whether I could use ground macadamia nuts instead of the almonds?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Carrie - you could definitely used the mac nuts in place of the almonds...those are going to be so yummy :)

    ReplyDelete