I haven’t made Linzer Cookies for a while and these happen to fit in with the “Color Game” that I have going on. Refreshing, sweet and tart and really quite a lovely combination, I give you these awesome Lemon Linzers with Passion Fruit Curd. Passion Fruit is definitely a food of the foodie gods. So delicious!
1 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup passion fruit or lemon curd (store bought is fine)
confectioners sugar, for dusting
You will also need: a linzer cookie cutter, or two cutters of the same size, one with a shaped hole.
Directions
In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugar, egg and egg yolk until light and fluffy. Add in lemon juice, lemon zest and lemon extract. Finally, mix in the flour, baking powder and salt until smooth and well combined. Chill in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until firm enough to be rolled.
Preheat over to 400F. Prepare cookie sheets with silpat or parchment paper.
Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness (be careful to get the surface even, otherwise you will have oddly browned cookies. Also, do not roll the dough too thin, otherwise you will have hard cookies when they come out of the oven). Cut out an equal number of cookies with and cookies without holes. Repeat this with the other half of the dough.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown at the edges. Cool on wire rack. Once completely cooled, use the passionfruit curd to sandwich together two cookies to make a linzer cookie. Repeat until all cookies are used. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
