Raspberry Linzer Star Bars Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and lemon zest. In another bowl, mix flour, ground almonds and cinnamon; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Press 2 cups dough onto bottom of a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Spread with preserves to within 1/2 in. of edges. Crumble remaining dough over preserves., Bake until lightly browned, 35-40 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. If desired, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Cut into bars.

Steps:

• Cream butter, gradually adding 2/3 cup sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape dough into a ball; cover and refrigerate until firm, 30-45 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. On a surface dusted with confectioners' sugar, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Using a floured 1-in. cookie cutter, cut out centers of half of the cookies., Beat egg whites until frothy. Mix almonds and remaining sugar. Brush cookies with egg whites; sprinkle with almond mixture. Bake solid and window cookies 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets until lightly browned, 6-8 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. , Spread 2 teaspoons raspberry preserves over the bottoms of solid cookies. Top with window cookies, almond side up., Editor's Note: For variety, substitute your favorite preserves in place of raspberry or apricot.

Steps:

• Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl using a whisk.
• Beat white sugar and butter together with an electric mixer on high in a bowl until light and fluffy; add egg substitute and vanilla extract. Beat until well blended.
• Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar-butter mixture until dough is soft. Divide dough into 2 equal balls and wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Chill dough in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Roll 1 dough ball into a 1/8-inch thick rectangle on a lightly floured surface; cut into 32 cookies using a square, star, or circular cookie cutter. Repeat with the second dough ball. Cut out the center of 32 cookies using a 1-inch square cookie cutter. Arrange all 64 cookies on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart.
• Bake cookies in the preheated oven until edges are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool on pans for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
• Spread about 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam into the center of each whole cookie. Sprinkle the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar; place 1 cut-out cookie atop each raspberry jam-topped cookie.

Steps:

• In a food processor finely grind almonds with confectioners' sugar and transfer to a large bowl. In food processor pulse butter with flour until mixture resembles fine crumbs and add to almond mixture with cornstarch and salt, stirring until combined well.
• In a small bowl beat together egg and lemon juice until blended and stir into flour mixture until combined well. Work mixture with hands until it forms a dough.
• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Pat 1 1/2 cups dough into a disk and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, 20 minutes. Pat remaining dough evenly into a 171/2- by 11-inch jelly-roll pan and spread evenly with jam.
• On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out chilled dough 1/8 inch thick and with a 3/4- to 1 1/2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter (we used 3 different sizes) cut out as many stars as possible. Re-roll scraps and cut out more stars. Arrange stars randomly over jam and carefully brush stars with milk. Sprinkle stars with granulated sugar and bake in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until stars are golden. Cool confection in pan on a rack and cut into 20 bars.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position the rack in the middle of the oven.
• Spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Turn oven off since you will not need it on again for at least 45 minutes. Empty nuts onto a folded towel, enclosing them between the folds, and rub them to remove their skins. Transfer the nuts to a strainer and carefully discard the skins. Allow nuts to cool to room temperature.
• Put the hazelnuts in a food processor fitted with the stainless-steel blade and pulse a few times. Add cake flour and process until the nuts are finely ground. Set aside.
• In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and lemon zest on medium speed until light and creamy. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Over medium speed, add the egg and continue mixing for 1 more minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the hazelnut-flour mixture, and continue mixing until well blended into a smooth dough.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions, with 1 portion about 8 ounces or 1/3 of the dough. Transfer to a medium pastry bag fitted with a number 1 plain tip and set aside. With the remaining 2/3 of the dough (about 20 ounces), form into a 1-inch flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• With a marking pen, trace a 16 by 13-inch rectangle shape on parchment paper. Place paper, marked side down, onto a baking sheet. With the reserved dough in the pastry bag, pipe straight parallel lines, about 1-inch apart, inside the marked rectangle. Then pipe a second set of parallel lines at a 45 degree angle to the first set of lines to make a trellis shape. Refrigerate until needed (dough should be well chilled before using).
• With more cake flour, lightly dust a pastry board or work surface with flour. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a rectangular shape, about 15 by 12 inches by 1/4-inch thick. Transfer dough to a parchment lined baking sheet and trim any excess dough to make an even rectangle. Bake for 20 minutes, or until dough starts to color. Remove baking sheet from the oven and transfer to a rack. Leave oven on. Allow dough to cool for at least 10 minutes.
• Spread raspberry jam over the entire surface of the cooled dough. Carefully place the refrigerated trellis-shaped dough over the jam. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden in color. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Trim edges and then cut into 3 by 1-inch bars. Lightly dust bars with powdered sugar.

Steps:

• In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and add honey, zest, cinnamon and spices. Continue mixing for one more minute. Scarpe down the sides and add egg. Mix again until well blended.
• Sift the dry ingredients together. On low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients to the butter mixture and continue to mix until a dough is formed.
• Remove the dough from the mixer, wrap in plastic film and refridgerate for about 2 hours.
• Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 inches cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with wax or parchment paper. Remove dough from the refridgerator and divide into two. Dredge the work surface with flour and with a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thick, forming a 12 inch circle. This will be for the bottom of the torte. Line the bottom and sides of the prepared cake pan with the circle.
• For the top of the torte, use the second half of dough, roll it to 1/2 inch thick to create a 9 by 12 inch rectangle. Refridgerate both the top and the bottom for about 20 minutes.
• Remove from refridgerator and fill bottom half with raspberry jam.
• Preheat the over to 350°F.
• Create a lattice with the rectangular piece of dough by cutting 12, 9 inch strips (Use a piece of cardbpard to build the lattice to make it easy to slide onto the bottom of the torte). Slide the lattice onto the jam filled bottom. Fold the edges of the dough up and over the top of the torte.
• Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. For a holiday accent, sprinkle with powdered sugar.