Linzer cookies can easily add color to any plate; pick two or three of your favorite fruit preserves to use as the filling. The leftover dough can be used to make linzertart. Read the original post here.

Annie blogs with her twin sister Connie at Ratty Gourmet, where they share recipes from Brown University’s main cafeteria (affectionately known as the Ratty). On break, Annie and Connie devote more time to baking and updating their Artful Food blog.

**Recipe**

Assorted Linzer Cookies
Makes 2 dozen cookies
Adapted from Alice Medrich’s “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.”

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups (10.125 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (5 ounces) almonds
1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Assorted preserves or fruit spread
Powdered sugar for dusting

Combine the flour, nuts, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in a food processor. Pulse until he nuts are finely ground. Add the butter. Pulse until the mixture looks crumbly. Add the almond extract and orange zest and pulse until the mixture clumps up around the blade. Remove the dough, press it into a ball, and knead it a few times to be sure all of the dry ingredients are blended into the dough. Form the dough into 2 flat patties. Wrap nad refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Remove 1 patty from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature until supple enough to roll. Roll to a thickness of 1/8 inch between sheets of wax paper. When the dough is thin enough, peel off the top sheet of paper and invert the dough onto that sheet. Cut as many large shapes as possible. Cut a smaller shape from the center of half of the large shapes. Use a knife or thin spatula to transport cookies onto a 2 parchment-lined cookie sheets, 1.5 inches apart. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown. Let the cookies cool for 1-2 minutes on the pan, and transfer to racks to cool completely before storing and filling.

To assemble, spread each solid cookie with a thin layer of preserves. Sift powdered sugar over the cookies with cutouts. Place a sugared cutout cookie on top of each preserve-covered cookie. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container.