The BEST Linzer cookies (Spitzbuben)

Serves 40

20 mins prep

8 mins cook

60 mins Resting Time

0 mins total

This recipe for Linzer cookies is one my German grandma made every year, where they are called Spitzbuben (pronounced Sh-pitz-boo-ben). They are buttery, flaky, jam-filled cookies that are dusted in powdered sugar. It's no wonder they have forever been a family favorite and make it on my list of the 5 best German Christmas cookie recipes. I promise you will be so happy that you put it on your baking list this year!

40 servings

Linzer cookie dough

5egg yolks3 hard-boiled and 2 raw

200 gramsbutterroom temperature. I use salted butter. If you use unsalted, maybe add a pinch of salt as well. This is not traditional, but it helps bring out the flavors more.

140 gramssugar

½lemonzest only

300 gramsall-purpose flourplus more for rolling out dough

1 tbspmilk

Filling & Topping

100 gramsjamI prefer using good apricot or raspberry jam, but you can use any jam of your choice!

powdered sugarfor dusting

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Hard boil 3 of the eggs, then remove the yolk. Using a spoon, press the egg yolks through a fine-mesh sieve, until it turns into a paste. The finer the sieve is, the better. Using a fork, xix together with the raw egg yolks to create a paste.

⅕ 5 egg yolks

Mix together butter, sugar, lemon zest, and your egg yolk paste until incorporated. Add in the flour and milk and knead until you have a cohesive, smooth dough.

⅕ 5 egg yolks

2 200 butter

1 ⅖ 140 sugar

⅕ 1/2 lemon

3 300 all-purpose flour

⅕ 1 milk

Cover the dough and transfer to the fridge to chill for 60 minutes. In the meantime, preheat oven to 390° Fahrenheit (200° Celsius).

On a surface dusted in flour, roll out the dough to 1/10 inch (3 mm) thickness, and cut out your favorite shapes, cutting out the middle for half of them, so you see the jam through it after assembly. Note: You can use a special cookie cutter for these, or you can create your own Spitzbuben by creating any kinds of peek-a-boo holes in the top cookie. If they are larger sized cookie shapes like mine, you'll end up with less than 40 cookies.

Transfer cookies to baking sheets covered in parchment paper or fitted with baking mats and bake for 8 to 10 minutes on the middle rack until just starting to turn golden around the edges. Note about baking: My last batch could fit on just one baking sheet instead of two, and the cookies baked much faster. I would also recommend baking the top pieces with cut-outs separately from the bottom pieces as they tend to bake just a minute or so faster.

After baking, carefully pull the baking sheet or parchment paper onto a cooling rack, allowing the cookies to harden and cool down faster. Dust top cookie with powdered sugar. Using spoons, put about 1/2 teaspoon of jam on each bottom cookie (you can warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds to help it spread out better), then assemble the cookies by placing the sugar-dusted top cookie on the jam-covered bottom cookie. These keep well in a cookie jar for up to 2 months (but no way you'll have any left after the first week).

1 100 jam

powdered sugar