Linzertorte Biscuits

Linzertorte is an Austrian cake that originated in the city of Linz. It is often eaten at Christmas time. Normally it has a flaky pastry base, a jam filling and a lattice work top. It is also the oldest known tart recipe in the world. In North America it is apparently very common to create Linzertorte Cookies or Linzertorte Biscuits as a festive treat. These have the same lattice work top and jam filling but have a shortbread or cookie base.

This weekend I decided I was going to bake some Linzertorte cookies. I have been intrigued by them for some time and I was really interested to see how they would turn out. I was really happy with the result, they are a really tasty biscuit. The taste reminded me a little of Bakewell tarts in biscuit form. The only problem with them is that once you eat one you find that you have to have another. When I looked in my biscuit tin later I found that quite a few had disappeared.

The Linzertorte biscuits are actually really easy to make. I thought they might be hard but they are actually quite quick and simple. The only hard part is browning the marzipan, you have to watch it in case it burns as it can brown very fast. If you want to give try making some Linzertorte Biscuits this is the recipe:

Linzertorte Biscuits Recipe

Makes 12 biscuits

Ingredients

• 125g (4 oz) butter
• 125g (4 oz) caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 75g (3 oz) rolled oats
• 125g (4 oz) self raising flour
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
• 4 tablespoons raspberry jam
• 275g (9 oz) white marzipan

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C 350F Gas Mark 4 and grease a baking sheet
2. In a saucepan melt the butter, then add the sugar and syrup.
3. Remove from the heat and add the oats, flour and bicarbonate of soda. Mix into a dough.
4. Leave to cool, then shape the mixture into 12 round balls. Place on the baking tray and flatten slightly.
5. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
6. In the centre of each cookie add a teaspoon of jam.
7. Roll out the marzipan and cut into twelve circles using a round cutter. Use a smaller cutter to cut out the centre of the circle and place the circle of marzipan round the jam.
8. Use a knife to cut the smaller circle into strips and place in a criss cross pattern on top of the jam.
9. Place under a pre-heated grill, for about 2 minutes until the marzipan browns. Watch it closely so that it does not burn.