Chocolate Linzer Hearts Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in almonds. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a 3-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter. From the center of half the cookies, cut out a 1-1/2-in. heart or round shape. , Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool., Spread 1/2 teaspoon jam over the bottom of the solid cookies. Sprinkle cutout cookies with confectioners' sugar; carefully place over jam.

Steps:

• Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, or mix with spoon. Beat in vanilla and eggs until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except jam and melted chocolate. Beat until well blended. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour (dough will be sticky).
• Heat oven to 375°F. Roll one-fourth of dough at a time between pieces of waxed paper until 1/8 inch thick. (Keep remaining dough refrigerated until ready to roll.) Cut with 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Cut small heart shape from center of half of the 2-inch hearts if desired. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Spread about 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam on bottom of whole heart cookies; top with cutout heart cookie. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extract. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. , Divide dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion to 1/8-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Roll out remaining dough; cut with a 2-1/2-in. floured doughnut cutter so the center is cut out of each cookie. , Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool., Spread melted chocolate over the bottoms of solid cookies. Place cookies with cutout centers over chocolate. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jam in center of each cookie.

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Mix on low to combine, then raise to medium speed and cream until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix on medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds.
• Scrape the bowl and mix another few seconds. Add the all-purpose flour and almond flour and blend on low until combined. The dough will be very stiff. Once mixed, use your hand to incorporate any remaining flour by pressing and turning the dough around in the bowl.
• Take about half of the dough and roll out between two pieces of parchment to about 1/8 inch thick. Use a light sprinkling of all-purpose flour if the dough sticks to the parchment.
• For the cookie tops, cut out 16 to 18 cookies with a floured 2 3/4-inch heart-shaped cutter and arrange on one of the prepared baking sheets. Cut out the center of each solid heart with a smaller (such as 1 3/4-inch) heart-shaped cutter.
• For the cookie bottoms, gather the scraps and the other half of the dough and reroll. Cut out 16 to 18 more 2 3/4-inch hearts. Leave them solid and arrange on the second prepared baking sheet (see Cook's Note).
• Bake the cookie tops, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking, until golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Bake the solid heart cookie bottoms, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking, until golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the trays before filling.
• Lightly dust the cookie tops with confectioners' sugar and set aside.
• Use a butter knife or small offset spatula to spread 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of jam over each cookie bottom. Carefully add the cookie tops. Place the remaining jam into a resealable plastic bag, snip off the end and pipe a bit into the center of each heart to fill in the space. The sandwich cookies can be store in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Toast hazelnuts until skins darken and begin to split, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a clean dish towel, and rub vigorously to remove skins; discard skins. Place nuts in a food processor; pulse until medium fine.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar at medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs; beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, hazelnuts, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and zest. Add to butter mixture; beat to combine, about 1 minute. Place in freezer until very firm, about 30 minutes.
• Liberally dust a clean surface with flour, and roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out seventy-two hearts. To make top halves of cookies, use a 1-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out centers from thirty-six of the hearts.
• Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, and bake until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled.
• Lightly sift confectioners' sugar over cookie tops. Spread about 1 teaspoon jam on each of the bottom halves, and sandwich both halves together. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine the cookie crumbs, almonds and 2 tablespoons of sugar; pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Transfer to a large bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and stir it into the almond mixture.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter. Beat in the remaining sugar. Beat in one egg and the vanilla extract until creamy. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined. Halve the dough, form into 2 disks, wrap in plastic and chill until very firm, at least 2 hours.
• On a floured surface, roll out half the dough to a 16-inch thickness. Use a pastry brush to brush off excess flour on the top of the dough, and use a large (about 3 1/2 inches at its widest point) heart-shaped cutter to stamp out as many hearts as possible. Use a wide spatula to transfer them to parchment-lined cookie sheets and chill. Gather the scraps, form into a disk and refrigerate. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Using a slightly smaller (about 2 inch wide) heart-shaped cutter, cut out the centers of half the chilled hearts. Leave the exterior rings on cookie sheets, and add the cut-out centers to the scraps. Roll out the chilled scraps and cut out an equal number of large hearts and rings. Chill them for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a cup, lightly whisk the remaining egg. Remove the chilled large hearts from the refrigerator and, using a small pastry brush, brush a coating of egg around the edges of each. Use a spatula to carefully lift the rings from the cookie sheets and place each over a heart. Press gently with your fingers to make them adhere. Brush the rings with more egg. Bake the cookies until the hearts are lightly colored, about 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and drop about a tablespoon of the preserves into the centers, spreading to fill. Return the cookies to oven and bake until the jam is set but not bubbling, about 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on the sheets.