Chef notes
Nut lovers, prepare to push peanut butter cookies aside. Made with Biscoff cookie butter spread, warm vanilla, crunchy walnuts and chocolate, these Linzer cookies are a wonderful treat for the holiday season. Proceed with caution: These buttery cookies are so delicious, you may just keep baking them all year round.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- Confectioners sugar, for dusting
- Biscoff spread, for filling
Preparation
1.In the bowl of a food processor, combine the walnuts, sugar and chocolate and process until the mixture is finely ground. Add the butter, cinnamon and salt and process until well-combined. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and process until smooth. Add the flour and pulse until a dough forms.
2.Divide the dough evenly between two pieces of plastic wrap. Form the dough into two disks and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
3.Preheat the oven to 350°F. Working with one disk at a time, roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper to about 1/8 inch thickness. Use a 2¼-inch round cutter to cut out circles. Use a 1/4-inch cutter to cut out the center of half of the rounds. Transfer the cut outs to a lined baking sheet. (If your dough is too soft, transfer it to the fridge to chill. Repeat with the remaining disk.
4.Bake the cookies until set and golden brown around the edges, 10 to 13 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the sheets, on a rack, for 5 minutes then transfer them to the rack to cool completely.
5.Transfer all the cookies with their centers cut out to one tray and dust them with confectioners' sugar. Flip the other cookies over and spread a bit of Biscoff spread on each one. (Heat the spread in the microwave for up to 5 seconds to make it easier to spread.)
6.Top each cookie with one of the dusted cookies. Let set and enjoy!
