Chamomile and Apricot Linzer Cookies

Happy Christmas Dessert Day 6! No Christmas cookie box is complete without Linzer cookies. There are a million recipes for Linzer cookies out there on the inter-webs, filled with everything from traditional berry jams to dulce de leche to chocolate. I actually even saw a recipe on Instagram the other day for matcha chocolate Linzers and that sounds like match made in heaven. Traditional Linzer cookies come from the town of Linz in Austria and are the same as a Linzer torte made bite-sized into cookie form. Two shortbread cookies, one with a little window cut out, sandwich a filling of your choice. They are pretty and festive and make a great addition to any holiday cookie box.

Technically speaking, true Linzer cookies have some sort of nut flour in them. (Since they are derived from the Linzer torte and if you remember my recently released expose on tortes, nut flour is a characteristic that distinguishes a torte from a cake.) These are flavored with chamomile and filled with a bright, floral apricot jam.

A few little tips to help make these successful for you: use cold dough! When working with shortbread of any type, butter melts quickly and chilling your dough frequently will save you lots of headaches. Chill the dough after mixing, and then while rolling and cutting, anytime the dough feels the tiniest bit soft, pop the whole sheet in the freezer for a few minutes, trust me on this! If your jam is thick and doesn’t seem pipe-able, just microwave for a few seconds to loosen it a bit.

Chamomile and Apricot Linzer Cookies

makes 18-20 cookies 

recipe adapted from Susan Spungen

Ingredients

2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (50 g) almond flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp loose chamomile tea, from two tea bags

1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup (135 g) granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp buttermilk, at room temperature

About 1/2 cup apricot jam*

Procedure

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, almond flour, salt, and baking soda until no lumps remain. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, sugar, and chamomile tea. Cream on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat again, for 1-2 minutes, until completely combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and make sure that the mixture is homogenous.

4. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix just until the dough starts to come together around the paddle and no dry streaks of flour remain.

5. Divide the dough in half and pat each portion into a disc. Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour, until the dough is firm.

6. After the dough has chilled, place one disc between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out until dough is around 1/8” in thickness. Remove the top piece of parchment paper, slide the bottom piece of parchment paper along with the rolled out dough onto a sheet pan and transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes. Repeat the entire process with the other disc.

7. When you are ready to cut the cookies out, flour two round cookie cutters of your choice, one larger (around 2-3”) and one smaller (1-2”). Punch out cookies using the large cutter, then go back with the small cutter and punch out windows in half of the cookie rounds. Place dough back in the freezer to chill for another 5-10 minutes. Use a small offset spatula to remove excess dough (I found this is much easier when the dough is straight from the freezer), and then chill one last time while the oven preheats.

8. Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake cookies on their parchment lined baking sheets for 6-7 minutes, until just beginning to turn golden brown on the edges. Remove and let cool completely on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

9. To fill, place the apricot jam in a piping bag. Place the cookie bottoms on a piece of parchment paper and pipe a dollop of jam (about 1 tsp) in the center of each cookie bottom. Immediately sandwich the tops of the cookies with a windowed cookie top and press down gently. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Pear Tarte Tatin

I’m back with another new Christmas dessert recipe for you for Day 5 of 12 Days of Christmas Desserts. In case you haven’t quite figured it out yet, I love all things French. When I was little, my aunt used to go to Paris on a regular basis and when any of us cousins turned 12, she took us with her. I vividly remember my 8 year-old self seeing pictures and hearing stories from my cousin’s first French getaway and counting down the days until my 12th birthday. Unfortunately, we moved from North Carolina to Florida later that year and life got in the way and coordinating trips to Paris fell to the wayside. But 20 years later, my time came. My generous aunt packed us up and we spent 10 days in Aix-en-Provence, a region in the South of France, celebrating our birthdays (because we share the same birthdate) and it was really all I imagined my first trip to France being. Then last year, Martin and I spent a few days wandering the streets of Paris and Bordeaux and I began shopping for French real estate. I once listened to a podcast interview with Dorie Greenspan where she said that the first time she walked off of the plane in Paris, she thought to herself "I could have been born here” and I feel that deeply in my soul.

But since Europe doesn’t yet recognize Martin’s professional licenses and I currently do not make enough money off of my writing to support us living overseas, I’ve resigned myself to reading David Lebovitz books and eating steak frites, and drinking lots of wine. Oh, and making French pastries.

Tarte Tatin is a very classic French dessert and it’s somewhat of an upside-down tart. It’s often made with apples, but I had some really beautiful pears in my most recent Misfits Market box that were begging to be snuggled in puff pastry. It’s really a fairly simple recipe, once you know what you are looking for. I did a lot of tarte tatin research in creating this recipe and all of the recipes that I found really don’t differ much. I very slightly adapted one from Deb Perlman at Smitten Kitchen, who had slightly adapted her recipe from the most-talented Susan Spungeon.

I found that the easiest way to make the caramel is by using a large, deep skillet where you can easily see the color of the sugar as it cooks and then transfer everything to a cast iron for baking. You can use store-bought puffy pastry or make your own, I have a recipe with step-by-step instructions here. The most important thing is to let the pastry cool completely (30-60 minutes) before inverting it to keep from having to clean up a sticky, caramel mess.

Pear Tarte Tatin

makes one 10” skillet

slightly adapted from Deb Perlman who adapted from Susan Spungen 

Ingredients

4 tbsp (55 g) unsalted butter

3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

2 tbsp dark rum

1 sheet puff pastry, store-bought or homemade 

6 pears, each sliced into eighths

Procedure 

1. Place your cut pears into a large bowl and squeeze the juice of half of a lemon over top of them. Toss to coat and then set aside.

2. Pour sugar in an even layer in the bottom of a large skillet. Turn the heat to medium heat and cook, without stirring until sugar begins to dissolve and turn golden. When all of the sugar has dissolved, you may swirl the pan once or twice. Cook until a deep amber color.

3. When the sugar is a deep brown liquid, whisk in the butter. The mixture will bubble and sputter, but that’s ok, keep whisking. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the rum.

4. Add the pears to the caramel and stir to coat. Cook over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pears are softened and caramel is bubbly.

5. Use tongs to arrange the pear slices in an even layer in the bottom of a 10” cast iron skillet (or deep pie plate) and then pour the remaining caramel over the top. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

6. While the pears are cooling, preheat the oven to 400° F.

7. Roll your sheet of puff pastry out into a circle just larger than the skillet and trim the edges. When the pears are mostly cool, gently lay the puff pastry over the top of the skillet and slice a small hole in the center to let steam escape.

8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until pastry is deeply golden and caramel is bubbling.

9. Let the tarte tatin cool completely in the skillet (at least 30 minutes) before carefully inverting onto a plate or serving dish.

puff pastry how-to

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Gingerbread Cake with Molasses and Turmeric Cream Cheese Frosting

When I originally started brainstorming my 12 Days of Christmas Desserts, this recipe was supposed to be my traditional one. In my little notebook, I actually have written down “classic gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting”. I wouldn’t say that this cake is classic, but it’s definitely Anna. What can I say? I can’t help myself.

While not exceptionally classic, there are some really fun flavors at play in this cake and it’s still a very simple recipe. An ultra-moist, blending method cake gets loaded with grated fresh ginger and carob molasses and then topped with a semi-traditional cream cheese frosting, spiked with a little turmeric. Sprinkling the whole thing with toasted pecans and candied ginger feels a little festive and so while is this is decidedly not a traditional gingerbread cake, it’s a very fun one.

Gingerbread Cake with Carob Molasses and Tumeric Cream Cheese Frosting

makes one 9x13” cake

Ingredients

for the cake 

2 1/2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated (from a piece about 1”)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup carob molasses (or regular molasses)

3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (55 g) brown sugar

1 cup (200 g) neutral oil

3/4 cup (170 g) warm water

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tbsp vanilla extract

for the frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened

4 oz (113 g) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp turmeric*

toasted pecans, optional

candied ginger, optional

Procedure 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and fresh ginger. Set aside.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together eggs, molasses, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, orange juice, and oil until smooth and combined.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir together until incorporated. Gradually whisk in the warm water until batter is smooth and loose.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and the center of the cake is set. Let cool.

6. To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and continue to beat until mixture is smooth and homogenous. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and tumeric, and continue to beat until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

7. Spread frosting on cooled cake and sprinkle with toasted pecans and candied ginger.

Notes:

-If turmeric isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to leave it out completely. The measurement listed in the recipe errs on the side of caution in that there is a faint turmeric flavor but not enough to scare people off. If I were making this cake just for myself, I’d probably up to 1 tsp in order for the flavor to really come through. Choose your own adventure. :)

-If you don’t have carob molasses, you can just sub in regular ‘ole molasses and get a slightly less chocolatey, more classic gingerbread flavor.

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