Paleo Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Often making an appearance on holiday dessert line-ups, linzer cookies are a beloved treat with centuries of fans. There is a lot to love about a linzer cookie with its perfect balance of sweet yet tart raspberry jam between two rich and buttery cookies. Visually, it’s a very pretty sandwich cookie, but don’t worry … It’s not just for show — the linzer cookie tastes as good or better than it looks!

Normally, linzer cookies don’t offer much more than sugar and carbs, but you’ll see that just one cookie from this Paleo linzer cookies recipe provides significant amounts of protein as well as iron, vitamin C, B vitamins and more!

What Are Linzer Cookies?

Linzer cookies (often called linzer tarts or linzer tart cookies) are based on the traditional Austrian linzer torte. Linzer tortes may actually be the oldest known cake in the entire world! (1) A linzer torte is a jam-filled cake that has a crumbly base typically made from flour, butter, eggs, lemon juice, cinnamon and ground nuts.

On top of the cake are dough strips arranged in a lattice, or criss-cross, design. Linzer tortes often feature raspberry jam but can also contain other fruit preserves such as apricot. The name “linzer” comes from the city of Linz, Austria, which is where linzer tortes were said to be first created in the 1600s.

It was a couple of decades before linzer cookies came on the scene in the 1800s. Linzer cookies are pretty much a smaller, hand-held version of the much larger linzer torte. Linzer cookies can be filled with a variety of jams or jellies, too, but no matter what goes in the middle, the cookies always have a “linzer eye,” where you see that fruity goodness peeping out of a cutout hole in the center.

Key Ingredients

Some of the healthy ingredients making these linzer cookies a lot more nutritionally dense than your average version are:

Chia seeds: These tiny little seeds are impressively high in such a wide array of nutrients, including various B vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc and potassium. Chia seeds are also a rich plant source of omega-3 fatty acids and have been called an “anti-inflammatory superfood.”

Raspberries: I love raspberry jam because when it’s made right, it’s the perfect balance of tart and sweet. This raspberry jam is made with real raspberries, maple syrup, chia seeds and lemon juice. Raspberries are high in vitamin C, an antioxidant known for its potential anti-aging and disease-fighting abilities.

Paleo flour: Instead of the usual wheat flour, these gluten-free linzer cookies are made with a Paleo flour blend. I used one that contains almond, coconut and arrowroot flour, which provides these cookies with fiber to boost digestive health as well as iron to improve energy levels.

How to Make Paleo Linzer Cookies

This linzer cookie recipe can be broken down into three parts: (1) making the dough; (2) making the jam and (3) beautifully bringing the two together.

With cookie cutters of your choice on hand, get ready for a recipe that will make you feel like a baker and artist at the same time. You’re sure to impress the crowd with these scrumptious gluten-free linzer cookies.

Put all the cookie ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Mix all cookie ingredients together.

Kneed the ingredients with your hands into a large ball.

Cut the cookie dough ball in half.

Form the halves into two separate balls and flatten into disks about the size of a CD.

Wrap the discs in separate pieces of parchment paper and let them sit in the fridge for one to two hours.

In a saucepan on medium low, combine raspberry jam ingredients. Let simmer and reduce for about 10 to 15 minutes. The consistency should become thick like a jam. Let it cool.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the jam is cooling, roll out one cookie dough disk between two sheets of parchment paper until it’s about one centimeter thick.

Using a cookie cutter, cut 12 cookies of the same size. You can use any shape cookie cutter. These will be your cookie bottoms.

Repeat with the second cookie dough disk, creating cookies the same exact size as the previous cookies. You’ll also need to cut out a slightly smaller cookie within the larger cookie to create a hole. These will be your cookie tops.

Place all the cookies on a lined baking sheet and bake for eight to 10 minutes. Once they’ve cooled down, lightly dust the cookie tops with the powdered sugar substitute.

Spoon raspberry jam (about one tablespoon each) onto the cookie bottoms.

Continue to put jam into the center of all the cookie bottoms.

Place cookie top to sandwich the jam with each cookie bottom.

Serve your beautiful gluten-free linzer cookies and enjoy.

Other Holiday Treats

Perhaps with a glass of dairy-free eggnog, here are some other Christmas goodies to make:

• Christmas spritz cookies
• Peppermint bark
• Gingerbread cookies
• Peppermint patties
• Peppermint fudge

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