“Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.”
Robert Fulghum
Just another manic day like many others! One of ‘those days’ when you have enough on your plate. Then by some cruel twist of fate, you land up at Tastespotting … and immediately wish you hadn’t. That was me that day. I couldn’t take my eyes off those beautiful cookies. There was something about them, and then the name “Pecan Linzer Cookies with Cherry Filling“. They held me captivated! I was soon breaking into The Parsley Thief’s beautiful blog to get my virtual fill of them!The cookies had to be made! I had them on my mind all morning despite a PILE of work. I made sweet butter, did the laundry, chopped a kilo fruit & nuts for fruit cake –BIG achievement. Non-traditional mincemeat sans suet made, matured briefly & baked into fruit cake. To be posted soon!}. That morning, I also tried my hand at savoury macarons for MacTweets and failed {Attempted a second time recently, with success! That post is coming too}. My feet were begging for freedom, but the heart wasn’t willing and soon I had the walnuts toasting. Time to take it slow,I decided to toast the walnuts that day, make the dough the next day & roll the cookies out whenever … but one thing led to another!
…and the holiday baking spirit isn’t that easy to shrug off. Once the walnuts cooled, I was tempted to grind them, intrigued by the procedure. Now just a step away from dough, so I proceeded to make that too. Dough to be rested in the fridge OVERNIGHT said the head, but soon the heart was rolling out cookies. Such was the temptation, and so good was the dough. It rolled well though could have been better if I had let it rest for 2 hours, but I couldn’t wait. Baked the cookies with a song in my heart! Yes, they were that attractive at The Parsley Thief’s place!
December is whirring by, now unstoppable. It’s halfway past the month, and it’s fun to see the baking frenzy that has hit the world. Twitter is abuzzatweet with who’s baking what, food blogs are bursting with fabulous holiday baking ideas. Did you see these cute Swiss Roll Christmas Cottages at Not Quite Nigella? Missed a heartbeat when I saw them! I wish I had most of December left as there are so many delicious ideas, but I’m GLAD I made these cookies at least!They were l♥ved by the kids, prized apart, jam duly licked off, sugar too, and then the cookies enjoyed … gobbled up in seconds. I saved some to give to friends as they were disappearing too soon. I think the basic cookie is a great one too sans the jam filling, quite like a nutty crisp shortbread on its own. My not-so-sweet tooth preferred it that way. A dusting of sugar seemed good enough. The box now lies empty as the daughter had her sweet-toothed friend over for the day yesterday, and they finished them off, down to the last crumb! Make them, enjoy them … and gift them! They are actually my first ever sandwich cookies; pretty darned good ones. Toasted Walnut Linzer Cookies – we ♥ you! Of course there’s a platter tucked away for Santa, and that’s where these are going!
Toasted Walnut Linzer Cookies with Strawberry Filling Adapted fromThe Parsley Thief Adapted fromMartha Stewart Living, February 2007 Makes about 20 sandwich cookies
2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cups walnut halves
2 tablespoons powdered sugar {plus, more for decorating}
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter {slightly softened}
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup homemade strawberry vanilla bean conserve , melted with 1/2 tsp water {or any preserve of choice}
Method:
Begin by toasting the walnut halves, either in a dry skillet over medium heat, or in a 180C. Toast for about 5 minutes. Be careful, nuts burn quickly! Set aside to cool completely before proceeding with the recipe.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour & baking powder, until combined. Set aside.
Add the toasted walnuts, powdered sugar, salt & cinnamon to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Cut the butter into small pieces & add to the bowl, along with the sugar. Blend until light & fluffy. Add the vanilla extract & egg, blend until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl, as necessary. Turn the mixer to low & slowly add the flour mixture, beating until just incorporated.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface & shape into a ball. Cut the dough in half & shape each half into a disc. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap & refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 190C. Roll out the dough, one disc at a time, to an 1/8″ thickness. Cut the cookies out using a 2″ scalloped edge cookie cutter & arrange them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Using mini cookie cutters, cut shapes out of the centers of half the cookies. These will be the tops. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking time. Let the cookies cool slightly before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
When cool, add some powdered sugar to a small sieve & tap a dusting of sugar over all the cookie tops. Spread a layer of strawberry preserves over the cookie bottoms & place the tops on.
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
