Linzer Tarts Made Easy

Linzer tarts are one of my favorite cookies and I often make them for the holidays.

However, they are fussy and time consuming to make which is why I limit myself to making the real deal only at holiday times.

Then I found out I could enjoy these wonderfully flavored cookies more often and without all the work since these are easy bar cookies!

I got this recipe from someone who posts in a cooking group I belong to. The members there are all seasoned home cooks and if one of them says something is good, then it is.

And these linzer tart bars sure are!

Jam

The traditional jam to use in linzer tarts is raspberry, so I kept to that. However, it will taste good with anything you use so don’t buy anything special.

The only thing I would advise if you are not using raspberry for the filling is to omit the almond extract. Where almond pairs wonderfully with raspberry, it doesn’t seem to pair well with other standard fruit flavors. Of course, that’s just my opinion and if you like it, use it!

Now, if you do use raspberry, go for the seedless variety jam. Those seeds are something else if they get caught in dental work–I used to think this was funny; until I got some of my own “dental work.” So it safest to go seedless.

Use Butter

While it might be tempting from an economy standpoint to substitute in this recipe, it will only work–and taste good–with butter.

Butter is where they primary flavor for these linzer bars comes from. Plus they need to solidify after they cool. Using margarine, or worse yet, “spreads,” result in an oily cookie that may not even set up; especially the spreads because they contain a lot more water than margarine or butter.

The Recipe

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Linzer Tart Bars

Easy take on an old classic

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy linzer tarts, holiday cookies, linzer tart bar cookies

Servings: 9

Calories: 403kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 cup butter room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups raspberry preserves seedless preferred
• 1 tsp almond extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Lightly spray bottom and sides of a 9-inch/23cm
• In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except preserves and almond extract until combined.
• Reserve 1/2 of the mixture for topping. Press mixture into prepared pan.
• Bake 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile microwave the preserves and almond extract in the microwave for 1 minute.
• Stir until completely combined.
• Take out bottom layer out of the oven.
• Spread with preserves and sprinkle with crumb mixture.
• Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 403kcal | Carbohydrates: 72g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 116mg | Potassium: 80mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 342IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 2mg

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The ultimate Christmas cookie.  Leave some huge Linzer Tarts for Santa!

Linzer tarts are so traditional around the holidays!  They’ve always been a part of my holiday baking.

These are quick and easy…very few ingredients.  Mix, chill and roll and that’s it!  It’s just a basic shortbread butter
cookie.

Linzer Tarts

I used regular seeded raspberry jam, but seedless works too.

What I did here to make them just a little bit more special was to drizzle some melted dark chocolate over the top.  Nothing really beats a raspberry and chocolate combo.  By all means leave off the drizzle if it’s too much of a good thing for you. And of course, they can be filled with ANY flavor jam you like.

Make sure to leave one for Santa!  Yes, only one because they are huge.  I used a 3-4 inch cutter, but you can make ’em smaller too.

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Linzer Tarts

Linzer tarts, also known as linzer cookies, are buttery shortbread with jam filling. A classic Christmas cookie recipe!

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Course: desserts

Cuisine: Austrian

Keyword: Christmas cookies, linzer cookies, linzer tarts

Servings: 24

Calories: 169kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter* very soft
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour

Filling:

• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves

Topping:

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips high quality
• 1 tsp butter
• powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and almond extract. Beat well.
• Add the flour and beat at low speed until a dough forms.
• Form dough into a ball and place in a plastic bag. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut circles with a 3-inch diameter cookie cutter (I used a glass). Cut smaller holes in the center of HALF the cookies (I used a large bottle cap from a 3-litre soda bottle).
• Alternatively, you can use a linzer tart cutter--it will make smaller cookies though.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes or until cookies are "set" and just are beginning to get light golden brown around the edges.
• Cool for 1 minute on the sheet and then remove to a rack to cool completely.
• When cookies are completely cool, spread about 1 tbs of the raspberry preserves on the circles without the additional holes--and spread the jam on the side that was sitting on the cookie sheet because that is completely flat.
• Top with a cookie with the hole in the center, again placing the side that was on the cookie sheet on the jam, forming a sandwich.
• Melt chocolate chips and butter in a microwave. Microwave in 30-second intervals and stir. It will probably need about 1 minute total to melt. Stir until there are no lumps. Drizzle over the cookies.
• Dust with powdered (confectioner's) sugar.

Notes

*You may substitute regular salted butter in a pinch but do NOT substitute margarine or butter-flavored Crisco.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 260IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg

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