Linzer Cookies With Raspberry Curd

and white chocolate cream.

I make linzers regularly. It is a great breakfast substitute for kids waking up late for school. I know it is not the healthiest choice but I can live with that once in a while. It stays fresh for 4-5 days in a cookie box, provided that you place it on a shelf high enough out of the reach of children.

I usually stick the two cookie pieces together with home made jam, but this time I felt like I could do something special so I prepared raspberry puree and cooked white chocolate cream.

Ingredients

170 g flour

80 g ground almonds

170 g butter

60 g sugar

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

You may replace the ground almond with any other nuts or - if you prefer - you may just use 250 g flour. But adding ground nuts certainly gives the cookies an extra flavor.

For preparing the dough I used my stand mixer equipped with a flex edge beater.

1. Cut the butter into small cubes (the colder the butter, the easier it is to work with, you might as well put it in the freezer).

2. Combine the flour and the ground almond. Add the butter and start mixing it at low speed until it is formed into crumbles.

3. Add the salt and the sugar, mix.

4. Add the egg yolks and the vanilla and combine. Mix it at low speed until the dough is combined then switch to medium speed and keep mixing for 1-2 minutes. This way the dough gets more shiny and it is easier to work with.

Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and quickly form it into a ball. Slightly flatten it, put it in a plastic bag and into the fridge for at least half an hour. (Flattening it will make rolling out the dough easier.)

While the dough is sitting in the fridge, there' s time to prepare the creams.

Ingredients of the raspberry curd:

120 g raspberry puree

1 egg

1 yolk

the juice and zest of 1 lemon (Meyer, if you have the chance)

40 g sugar

40 g butter

Put the ingredients except for the butter in a frying pan, bring it to boil at low heat, stirring continuously. Cook it until it thickens a little. You can check this by pulling your finger through the back of the wooden spoon, if the mark stays it is OK.

Remove from the heat, wait till it cools a bit then add the butter in small quantities.Set the curd aside until it gets cold.

Ingredients:

180 g milk

40 g double cream

40 g sugar

25 g corn starch

100 g white chocolate

80 g butter

Preparation:

Combine milk, double cream, corn starch and sugar. Bring it to boil and cook it for 4-5 minutes. Keep stirring, it gets burned easily. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate, dissolve it completely, stir until it cools to about 40-45 degrees Celsius (a good indicator is that you can hold your finger in but it feels warm). At this stage, mix in the butter.

Remove the dough from the fridge, put it on the lightly floured countertop. Wait about 5 minutes till you start rolling it out. Roll the dough evenly to 2-3 mm thickness. You may have to sprinkle some flour underneath the dough to stop it from sticking, don't forget to check this regularly. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough. Transfer the cookies to a baking tin lined with parchment paper. Cut (using a smaller cookie cutter) the middle of every second cookie.

Bake in the preheated oven (170 C) for about 15 minutes depending on your oven. The key is not to overbake them, they are ready when the edges start to get brown.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool.

You can use a piping bag or the practical utensil appearing in the photo (I have no idea what's it called in English) or you can also scoop the creams - as they are quite thick - with a teaspoon.

Assembly:

- Take a cookie,

- turn it upside down, so the cream will go to the side facing the parchment paper,

- put some cream in the middle and cover with another piece of cookie that has a hole in the middle forming a window for the cream. 1-2 teaspoons of cream should be enough per cookie, the actual quantity depends on the size of the cookie. Make sure it goes underneath the top cookie but does not flow out on the sides.

Dust with icing sugar and enjoy!