Few Christmas cookies look quite as charming as classic raspberry Linzer cookies. With buttery almond cookies, jewel-bright raspberry jam, delicate cutout centers, and a snowy coating of powdered sugar, they seem made for holiday cookie trays.
The cookies pictured here have that wonderfully traditional look: round golden sandwiches with little stars, Christmas trees, and other festive shapes cut from the centers, allowing the deep red raspberry filling to peek through. A generous dusting of powdered sugar gives them the finishing touch, making them look as though they have just been caught in a light Christmas snowfall.
Despite their elegant appearance, Linzer cookies are surprisingly approachable. The dough is similar to a rich shortbread, with ground almonds adding tenderness and a subtle nutty flavor. Once baked and cooled, the cookies are simply sandwiched together with raspberry preserves.
🎄 What Are Linzer Cookies?
Linzer cookies are inspired by Austria’s famous Linzer Torte, a nut-rich pastry associated with the city of Linz. The traditional torte combines a buttery nut dough with fruit preserves and a decorative lattice top. Linzer cookies transform those same flavors into beautiful little sandwich cookies.
Raspberry is particularly lovely for Christmas because its brilliant red color shows through the cutout centers. The combination of tart berry preserves, buttery almond pastry, warm cinnamon, and powdered sugar gives these cookies an old-fashioned European Christmas feel.
And while the classic round shape is beautiful, there is no reason every window needs to look exactly the same. Using small star, heart, flower, or Christmas-tree cutters creates the varied bakery-style assortment seen in the photo.
🍪 Traditional Raspberry Linzer Cookies
Prep time: 30 minutes
Chill time: 1–2 hours
Bake time: 9–11 minutes per batch
Yield: About 20–24 sandwich cookies
Oven: 350°F
Ingredients
For the Linzer Cookie Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely ground almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
For the Filling and Finish
- 3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam or raspberry preserves
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, or as needed for dusting
🥣 How to Make Raspberry Linzer Cookies
1. Mix the Dry Ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.
The almond flour is one of the ingredients that gives Linzer cookies their characteristic tender, slightly crumbly texture. Cinnamon and just a hint of clove provide warmth without overwhelming the raspberry filling.
2. Cream the Butter and Sugar
Place the softened butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for about 2 to 3 minutes, until creamy and slightly fluffy.
Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
The lemon should not make the cookies taste overtly citrusy. Instead, it adds a little brightness that balances the butter, almonds, and sweet raspberry jam.
3. Make the Dough
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in two or three additions, mixing on low speed just until a soft dough forms.
Avoid beating the dough longer than necessary. Linzer cookies should be tender rather than chewy.
Divide the dough into two equal portions and flatten each into a disk. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until firm enough to roll easily.
You can also make the dough the evening before and refrigerate it overnight.
⭐ Roll and Cut the Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator. Let it stand at room temperature for a few minutes if it is too firm to roll.
Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin, then roll the dough to approximately 1/8 inch thick.
Cut out rounds using a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter.
Transfer the rounds carefully to the prepared baking sheets.
Now comes the part that gives Linzer cookies their unmistakable appearance. Leave half of the rounds solid. From the remaining half, cut a small opening in the middle.
To recreate the festive assortment in the photo, alternate between:
- Stars
- Christmas trees
- Hearts
- Flowers
- Small circles
The cookies do not need matching center shapes. A mixture of designs makes a Christmas platter especially pretty.
Gather the dough scraps, gently reroll them, and continue cutting until you have used as much dough as possible.
🔥 Bake Until Lightly Golden
Bake the cookies for approximately 9 to 11 minutes, or until they are set and beginning to turn pale golden around the edges.
Linzer cookies should not become deeply browned. Keeping them relatively pale preserves their tender texture and provides a beautiful contrast with the bright raspberry filling.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them carefully to a wire rack.
Cool completely before assembling.
❄️ Add the Powdered Sugar
Separate the solid cookies from the cookies with cutout windows.
Place the window cookies on a piece of parchment paper and generously sift powdered sugar over them.
Doing this before assembling the sandwiches keeps the raspberry filling bright and glossy instead of covering it with sugar.
Don’t be shy with the powdered sugar. The snowy finish is part of what makes these cookies so beautiful for Christmas.
❤️ Fill with Raspberry Jam
If your raspberry preserves are very firm, stir them briefly until smooth. If they contain large pieces of fruit, you can press the preserves through a fine sieve for an especially smooth filling.
Spread roughly 1 teaspoon raspberry jam over the flat side of each solid cookie, leaving a small border around the edge.
Gently place a powdered-sugar window cookie on top.
Press only lightly. You want enough pressure for the raspberry filling to rise into the cutout without squeezing out around the sides.
That little pool of glistening red jam in the center is what gives a Linzer cookie its irresistible jewel-like appearance.
🎁 Perfect for a Christmas Cookie Platter
Linzer cookies are especially useful when you want a Christmas cookie tray to look impressive without relying entirely on elaborate icing.
Their red, white, and golden colors already feel festive, and the different cutout shapes add variety. Arrange them alongside gingerbread cookies, shortbread, chocolate cookies, peppermint treats, and other traditional favorites.
For an especially pretty platter, make several window designs rather than using the same cutter for every cookie. Stars and Christmas trees immediately give the batch a holiday appearance.
💡 Tips for Beautiful Linzer Cookies
Keep the dough cold. Warm dough becomes soft and can stretch when you transfer the shapes to the baking sheet. If the cookies start becoming difficult to handle, refrigerate the rolled dough for 10 minutes before cutting.
Use seedless preserves if possible. Smooth raspberry filling creates the glossy red centers seen in bakery-style Linzer cookies.
Roll the dough evenly. Because these are sandwich cookies, even thickness matters. Two cookies that are dramatically different in thickness can create a lopsided sandwich.
Don’t overfill them. A teaspoon of jam is usually plenty. Too much will squeeze out when the top cookie is added.
Dust before assembling. It keeps the window of raspberry jam beautifully red.
Let them rest after filling. The cookies are delicious immediately, but after several hours the preserves begin to gently soften the inner surfaces of the cookies, creating that lovely tender Linzer texture.
🍓 Can I Use a Different Jam?
Absolutely. Raspberry creates the gorgeous traditional-looking red centers pictured here, but the same cookies can be made with:
- Red currant preserves
- Apricot preserves
- Strawberry jam
- Blackberry preserves
- Cherry preserves
For Christmas, raspberry and red currant are particularly striking because of their rich ruby color.
Choose a fairly thick jam rather than a very loose fruit sauce. A thick filling stays neatly inside the sandwich and prevents the cookies from becoming overly soggy.
🌰 Can I Use Hazelnuts Instead of Almonds?
Yes. Linzer-style pastries have long been made with different ground nuts, including almonds and hazelnuts. Finely ground hazelnuts will give the cookies a slightly deeper, toastier flavor.
Almond flour is particularly convenient because it is already finely ground and produces a smooth, easy-to-roll dough.
🧊 Make-Ahead Instructions
The dough can be prepared 1 to 2 days in advance and stored tightly wrapped in the refrigerator.
You can also bake the unfilled cookies ahead of time. Once completely cool, store them in an airtight container and assemble them with raspberry jam closer to serving.
For the prettiest presentation, dust the tops with powdered sugar shortly before assembling or serving.
📦 How to Store Linzer Cookies
Store assembled Linzer cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for several days. Place parchment or wax paper between the layers so the powdered tops remain attractive.
As they sit, the raspberry preserves gradually soften the cookies slightly. Many people actually prefer them after a day because the textures of the cookie and filling begin to meld together.
If you’re preparing them well ahead of Christmas, freeze the unfilled baked cookies and assemble them after thawing.
🎀 Giving Linzer Cookies as Christmas Gifts
These may be some of the prettiest homemade cookies to tuck into a Christmas tin.
Line a cookie box with parchment or festive tissue paper and arrange the Linzers in a single layer whenever possible. Their delicate powdered-sugar tops are worth protecting.
A mixture of star-, heart-, and Christmas-tree-window cookies looks especially charming when the box is opened.
Pair them with gingerbread, sugar cookies, truffles, or traditional European Christmas bakes for a homemade gift that feels wonderfully old-fashioned.
❤️ A Christmas Cookie Worth the Extra Step
Raspberry Linzer cookies require a little more time than an ordinary drop cookie, but the finished result makes the effort worthwhile.
There is something unmistakably festive about a plate of buttery almond cookies covered in snowy powdered sugar with brilliant raspberry centers shining through stars and tiny Christmas trees. They look elegant enough for a Christmas party while still having the comforting homemade quality that belongs in a family cookie tin.
And once you bite through the tender almond cookie into that sweet-tart layer of raspberry preserves, it’s easy to understand why Linzer-inspired baking has remained a holiday favorite for generations.
🔗 Related Articles
- Traditional Christmas Gingerbread Cookie Recipe with Warm Spices
- Traditional Nuremberg Lebkuchen Recipe: Soft German Christmas Gingerbread
- How to Bake Perfectly Festive Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Delicious and Festive Christmas Jam Recipe
- Christmas Recipes: Holiday Baking, Dinner, Desserts & Drinks
📚 Sources
- Linz Tourism — Linzer Torte: The Sweet Ambassador of Linz. Historical information on the Linzer Torte, including its documented 1653 history and traditional use of almonds and fruit filling. (Linz Tourism)
- Austria.info — Linzer Cake Recipe. Background and traditional Austrian preparation of Linzer-style pastry. (Austria)
- King Arthur Baking — Linzer Cookies Recipe. Reference for the classic combination of almond flour, raspberry jam, butter, and confectioners’ sugar in Linzer sandwich cookies. (kingarthurbaking.com)
