Linzer Sables, Linzer Augen or Linzer Torte

My neighbor once told me that one of his favorite cookies was what is commonly called "Linzer Torte."  Technically, a Linzer Torte is a cake which originated in Linz, Austria.  It is made of layers of a shortbread with ground nuts (often Hazelnuts, although I've always had them with almonds..probably because they are easier to obtain), layered with red current jam.  When my mom made them, it was always raspberry.....probably because I love raspberry jam or that that's what we made....currents weren't common in our neck of the woods.  The top layer was crisscrossed lattice pieces, then the whole was dusted with powdered sugar.

The cookie version is made of two layers, and while in the U.S. we usually all these Linzer Tortes as well, they are more properly called Linzer Sables, or Linzer Augen (Linzer eyes in German).  They are well known among Hungarian, Austrian, Swiss, German and Tirolean people, but sometimes they are also ascribed, rather inappropriately to "Scandinavians."  I am guessing because according to Wikipedia, Austrian Franz Holzlhuber brought them to Milwaukee in the 1850s where they spread from there.  While Milwaukee is predominantly German, I would hazard that someone probably threw in the Scandinavian angle as well.

At any rate, my daughter and I had a good time making them for our neighbor.  Megs didn't much care for them...I think probably because they aren't terribly sweet and they have more subtle tastes than her tongue is used to.  However, my neighbor, who is herself a fantastic baker and maker of some really killer biscotti said she liked mine best of all the ones she had here.  So...here is my recipe:

Linzer Augen/Linzer Sables/Linzer Torte

1 ½ C. unsalted almonds (or hazelnuts)

3 cups sifted flour, divided

1 cup butter at room temperature

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp. Almond flavoring

2 tsp. Grated lemon zest (about the zest from 2 lemons)

2 eggs

Raspberry jam (apricot, red current, cloudberry or thimbleberry is also great—I usually use seedless as it is prettier, but it doesn’t much matter)

Sifted confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Chop almonds with ½ cup flour until fine (don’t just do the almonds, the flour helps get it the right grind).  In a medium bowl, combine nuts miexture, flour, butter, confectioner’s sugar, lemon zest and eggs. Mix well.  Wrap dough in plastic and chill for a minimum of 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll out dough cutting a solid for the base and a patterned one for the top (I don’t have the fancy Linzer tart cookie cutters, so I used my round shaped cutter and cut a small pattern out of the center)—make sure you have it in even sets of tops and bottoms.  Bake for 8 – 10 minutes or until light gold in color.  Cool on a wire rack. Spread a thin layer of jam on the bottom cookie and place a “pierced” top on top.  Dust with sifted confectioner’s sugar.

Cookbooks

Today was the Batty Binder's Holiday gathering...and as usual with Batty Binders, we always bring in food, enough, as President Teresa Brown says, to feed a small country.  For several days, I've been thinking about the cookies you see at left...home-made gingersnaps from an old recipe my family has made since at least the 1950s.  We called them "ginger crinkles" .  Many people make them...a molasses spice cookie, chilled, then rolled into balls and rolled in sugar.  Very simple..a little time consuming only because you have to refrigerate for at least an hour and roll all the balls.  But yummy.  One of my favorites, and as I found tonight, a favorite of others.  I made a double batch as I know they are one of Lynn Mosher's favorites as well, and we all bring something to share for our Thursday stitch ins.

It's been a while since I made these...and I remember the hand printed recipe card I made out when I was in high school, but I was pretty sure that the recipe was also included in the First Congregational Church in Athens, Michigan's book my mom compiled in 1978/1979.  I love this cook book, not only because it has most of my family favorites in there, but because it has recipes from my friends and their families as well.  Looking through the book as to who submitted the recipe brings to mind all of the people, many of whom were old when I knew them and are long dead now.  Who can forget Zepha Spencer, or Ethel Reebs who was the choir mistress of the all men choir?  Little white haired ladies who put in recipes calling for a "quick" oven or for pinches of salt? Some of the recipes can be submitted as just a list of ingredients...you are supposed to know the method and I do as I grew up in the kitchen watching, then later working with my mom.  I don't know if my own daughter would be able to do it...her interests growing up were not in the kitchen, although she did have an interest in cake baking, frosting and brownies...and she got sort of a reputation as being a great baker of those items...and I'm happy to say that I convinced her that home-made frosting and brownies rather than mixes were the way to go.

I think the best recipe books and the best recipes can be determined by the number of splotches on the pages.  A good recipe, and a good cookbook, has lots of them as it shows use.

This was my first cookbook.  My mom gave it to me as a Christmas present in about 1976 or so....the same year she gave it to my sister who was just starting her life as a married woman.  It was also the book we used when I was in Mrs. Beck's Home-Ec. class.  You can see the amount of wear on the edges.  I still use it...even if it does have a habit of calling for too much salt and too much baking soda...but if you know the recipes and know the usual proportions, you can tell if it is too much out of whack.

A great cookbook I discovered this summer was one my niece Katie gave to her newly married sister Beth, Michael Ruhlman's Ratio:  The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of  Everyday Cooking. It is a great book and gives you a lot of information on method as well....and it gave me the code for making the best light and fluffy baking powder biscuits....

So...I suppose you're wondering about the cookie recipe.

Ginger Crinkles

1/2 c. shortening (I usually use butter or margarine or a combination of the two.  When I was a kid, we used Crisco, and I think if you used butter flavored margarine that would be fine too.)
2 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
1/2 c. molasses (I prefer Grandma's which is a light molasses, but as a kid, we used B'rer Rabbit light molasses but sometimes Black Strap molasses which gives a stronger flavor and a bit of a tang from the sulfur).
4 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking soda (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon if you want to go faster)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger (I like using fresh grated ginger.  I keep a hunk of root in the freezer and grate it as I need it...it is much fresher than using ground).
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
granulated sugar....It's prettiest if you use a coarse ground sugar, but I only had the regular table sugar so the grains are less noticeable on this batch).

Cream shortening and sugar.  Add in egg and molasses.  Blend in remaining ingredients except granulated sugar. Cover the bowl and chill a minimum of one hour (making it the day before and stuffing it in the fridge overnight works well).

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.  Shape dough into rounded balls, about 1"- 1.5" in diameter (or a little bigger, but not tooo big).  Roll the ball in granulated sugar nad put on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake 10 -12 minutes or just until set.  I usually set the timer for 11 minutes.  Immediately removed from baking sheet to cool.

These make a ginger cookie which is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  You can leave it for a tad longer to make it crunchy throughout.  This is actually the recipe for a double batch because they aren't that much trouble to double it and the recipe halved is for 4 dozen cookies....if you make them small...I made about 6 dozen using the doubled batch and that will give me enough to take to tomorrow gathering as well as tonight's.  Plus a couple to eat myself.  These freeze very well.