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Linzer biscuits are an Austrian favourite, which is just as delicious & buttery when made with gluten-free ingredients. Perfect for Valentine’s Day or the festive season!
Why are they called Linzer?
These gorgeous biscuits known as Linzeraugen in Austria, are delicate, buttery and refreshing with red currant or raspberry jam sandwiched between two biscuits.
The name Linzer means that it came from the city, Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, and Augen means eyes in German. Traditionally, the biscuits have three holes, representing the eyes on the biscuit.
Different eye shapes:
Besides heart shapes for the eyes on the biscuits, change the eye shape for a Christmas theme using stars.
What jam is used?
They are filled with a variety of jams, mainly apricot, one of Austria’s favourite indigenous jams. For Valentine’s Day, many Austrian bakeries will switch to a heart-shaped biscuit filled with either red currant jam (Rote Ribisel) or raspberry jam.
What nuts are used?
Ground hazelnuts give these biscuits a unique flavour, but feel free to use ground almonds, walnuts or pecans instead. Removing the skins gives the shortbread biscuit a smoother texture. Although, if you like the grittiness, leave them on. I have explained in my recipe how to easily remove the hazelnut skins by blanching them. A bit laborious but worth the smooth texture in the long run.
Gluten-Free Linzer Biscuits
Equipment
- or
- Baking tray 25 x 35 cm several
Ingredients
To blanch & remove the hazelnut skins:
- 130 g whole hazelnuts
- 2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
- ice-cold water, to cover the hazelnuts after blanching
Gluten-Free Linzer Biscuits
- 300 g store-bought or homemade gluten-free plain flour
- 1 tsp gluten-free baking powder
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- or
- 1 tsp psyllium husk powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 230 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 150 g caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks freeze the egg whites to make pavlova
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp lemon zest, freshly grated
Linzer Heart Jam Filling
- 4 tbsp red currant or raspberry jam
Finishing Touch
- 3-4 tbsp sifted icing sugar, for dusting
Instructions
To blanch & remove the hazelnut skins:
- If you have bought hazelnuts with their skins on, you need to remove them by blanching them in boiling water with 2 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda mixed in for 3 minutes.
- Fill a medium bowl with ice-cold water and plunge the drained hazelnuts into the bowl, making sure the water is covering the hazelnuts. Allow them to soak for 5 mins.
- Remove the hazelnut several at a time and rub each one with a tea towel to remove the loose skin.
- Set aside the cleaned hazelnuts on a kitchen paper-lined plate to dry out before crushing them in a food processor into fine crumbs. If you live in a humid country, dry roast the hazelnuts in a low oven for 10 mins to remove any of the moisture from blanching.
Gluten-Free Linzer Biscuits Dough
- Whisk the plain flour, baking powder, xanthan gum or psyllium husk, cinnamon and salt together.
- Beat the butter and sugar together for 3 mins until light and creamy.
- Add the egg yolks one at a time.
- While the eggs are beating, add the vanilla and lemon zest and mix for another 2 mins.
- Fold in the flour mixture and nuts gently.
- Once all the flour is no longer visible and the dough forms into a ball, mould it into a disc and wrap it in plastic.
- Leave to rest in the refrigerator for one hour.
Rolling out the dough
- Divide the dough in half.
- Between two sheets of baking paper, roll out one-half of the dough to ½ cm thick.
- Cut out 5 cm-circle shapes using a round cookie cutter. Transfer them to a lined baking tray approx 2 cm apart. Set aside.
- With the remaining dough, cut out enough 5 cm-circle shapes to cover the first batch of cookies. Transfer them to the baking tray.
- Using a mini heart-shaped cookie cutter, press in the centre of each of the second batch of round cookies. Transfer the mini hearts to a dedicated lined baking tray and set aside. It is important to have an exclusive tray for each shape so they bake evenly.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F.
- Bake the circle and heart-imprinted round biscuits first for 15 mins, rotating them halfway through baking.
- Finally, bake the mini heart shape biscuits for 8 minutes only, or until golden.
- Transfer all the baked biscuits to a wire rack to cool down completely.
Assembling & Decorating
- Start sandwiching the jam between one round biscuit and one heart-imprinted round biscuit.
- Dust each biscuit with sifted icing sugar, including the mini hearts.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until serving time.
- In colder weather, these biscuits will store well in an airtight tin at room temperature.
Notes
- Best eaten on the day of baking
- Keeps for 2 days
- Suitable to freeze once assembled
