This dessert recipe is super easy to make, and the outcome is very delicious. These Linzer cookies are soft, sweet, easy to make, and they look super cute. If you want to make dessert at home from scratch, and you don’t have much time on your hands or you are a beginner cook or home baker this is your recipe.

The base of the recipe is a kind of sweet shortcrust pastry. I made this pastry for my apple pie recipe, I had some leftover pastry, that I didn’t want to throw away. So I added some blueberry jam and voilá…soft, sweet Linzer cookies. I call them Linzer cookies because they remind me of them but the original linzer recipe is different, and linzer cookies are not this soft as my cookies. But sweet shortcrust pastry cookies filled with jam sound odd and too long. Maybe peekaboo jam cookies. 🙂

What is sweet shortcrust pastry and what is it used for?

Sweet shortcrust pastry, is a rich, slightly crumbly pastry with a higher ratio of fat to flour than some other pastry recipes. With added sugar, it’s slightly sweet. This pastry is rather easy to make and can be used in many different ways. You can use shortcrust pastry for pies, and tarts. You can fill them with fruits, jams, hazelnut spreading, lemon curd, and so on. In Hungary traditionally we make shortcrust pastry with lard but you can use butter or vegetable shortening instead.

It is important to mention that sweet shortcrust pastry can be very sticky when rolling, so flour the rolling surface well and the surface of the pastry too.

Peekaboo jam cookies Ingredients

• 300 g flour (2 1/2 cup)
• 150 g powdered sugar (1 cup+2tbsp.)
• 80 g lard or butter (1/3 cup) (cold & diced)
• 1 egg
• 1 packet of baking powder (11 g)
• 6 tbsp. milk
• pinch of salt
• your favorite kind of jam

Instructions

1. Add 300 g flour (2 1/2 cup) to a large bowl.
2. Next add the powdered sugar (1 cup + 2 tbsp.), the baking powder, and a pinch of salt.
3. Mix the dry ingredients well.
4. Add the cold, diced lard (or butter or shortening), the egg, and 6-7 tbsp. milk to the dry ingredients.
5. Rub the butter into the dry mixture with fingertips until it comes together into small crumbles. Alternatively, you can use two forks or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the mixture.
6. Stir until the dough binds together. Add more cold milk a teaspoon at a time if the mixture is too dry. Form the dough into a ball and divide the dough into two. Wrap them in plastic wrap and let them chill for a minimum of 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
7. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and let it soften for 5 to 10 minutes until it feels soft enough to roll. It should still feel cold, but shouldn’t feel rock-hard. On a well-floured surface, roll one disc of dough out about 0,6 mm (1/4″) -thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gather the scrap dough, roll, and repeat. If at any time during this process the dough becomes sticky and hard to work with, simply refrigerate it for about 20 minutes, until firm.
8. Use your smallest cookie cutter or the end of a round piping tip, or I used the small bottle cap of an oil container to make a peekaboo cutout in the center of each.
9. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon of jam or lemon curd into the center of the cookies without peekaboo holes, spreading it slightly. Top with the ones with holes.
10. Bake at 180°C (360°F) for 10-12 minutes.
11. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. When completely cooled dust them with powdered sugar if you wish. This is optional.
12. Store filled cookies, well wrapped, at room temperature (when filled with jam) or in the refrigerator (if filled with curd) for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Let me know if you try this recipe…Use #cutecuisine on Instagram. I would love to see your creations. Follow me or tag me on Instagram at @cute_cuisineee

You can change the order of baking the cookies. You can bake the cookies first without filling them with jam, and after you baked the cookies, and are cooled you can fill them. Worked both ways for me.

Sweet shortcrust pastry storage

The pastry keeps fresh for up to 5 days in the fridge in an air-tight container.

If you have a leftover dough you can keep it in the fridge for about 1-2 days.

Freeze the dough: Wrap the disc tightly in plastic wrap. Wrap in foil or place in a snap-lock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.

To thaw: Thaw pastry in the fridge overnight. Stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling.