Linzer Tarts

Total Time: 37 mins Preparation Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 (12 ounce) jar jam (raspberry or apricot or mixture of both)

Recipe

• 1 for the dough: cream softened butter with powdered sugar until well blended.
• 2 add the orange extract to the butter mixture and stir well to incorporate.
• 3 stir in the sifted flour one cup at a time, mixing well.
• 4 chill dough 2 or more hours before rolling.
• 5 fill with raspberry or apricot preserves or a mixture of the two.
• 6 preheat oven to 350°f.
• 7 roll out dough on lightly floured board with floured rolling pin until about 1/4 inch thick.
• 8 cut with 2 inch round cutter (scalloped cutter is nice) and place on ungreased baking sheet.
• 9 cut out small center circle with 1 inch or smaller cutter in 1/2 of the cookies.
• 10 (reroll scraps as you go).
• 11 bake at 350°f for about 12 minutes, until pale golden and edges are starting to brown.
• 12 cool completely on a wire rack at least 1/2 hour.
• 13 place all the tops (with the inner circles cut out) close together on a sheet of waxed paper.
• 14 dust sifted powdered sugar thickly over the tops.
• 15 place the bottoms on another sheet of waxed paper.
• 16 spread 2 teaspoons preserves very carefully on each bottom cookie.
• 17 spread evenly leaving 1/4 inch rim without preserves around the edge.
• 18 spread the preserves without picking up the cookie; use a flat knife and work right on the waxed paper covered surface.
• 19 top each preserve covered bottom cookie with a sugared top cookie, lightly holding it at the edges.
• 20 carefully transfer to a serving plate.
• 21 do not try to stack or store these very long.
• 22 the basic cookies could be packed and frozen, but the assembled cookies should be made the day they are to be served.
• 23 ps the original recipe gave the above warning about stacking and storing, but i have made them at christmas and stacked them between sheets of waxed paper in a tin with no problem.