It doesn’t get more festive than these pretty and melt in the mouth Eggless Linzer Cookies! The famous Christmas cookies from Austria . Cookies with a round cut out, sandwiched between raspberry and saffron preserve, then the tops are dusted with icing sugar to give a snow finish. A perfect bake to celebrate the season of joy and to be merry!
The season of Baking, Christmas is not complete without baking cookies. You can never have too many kinds of Christmas cookies, especially when they are as good as these ones – Linzer ! Being a novice baker, I always like to tackle simple, straightforward yet delectable baking recipes in my own kitchen and past year these Linzer cookies had been playing on my mind, since our holiday to Austria where we got these cookies from but I did not taste as they were made with eggs.
So this Christmas we all fell for these sweet and crumbly shortbread cookies which are filled with the tart flavour of jam. Obviously, I baked these incredibly delicious cookies before Christmas, but life got so busy and on top of that became ill so I had to take a break from blogging and social media … better late than never!
More Eggless Christmas Baked Goodies on JCO – Mini Panettone
WHAT ARE LINZER COOKIES?
These adorable Linzer cookies hail from the Linz city of Austria. This Linzer cookies recipe is a small version of Linzertorte, one of the oldest known baked goodies in the world and popular in Austria. A rich pastry flan prepared with ground hazelnuts or almonds and spiced such as cinnamon and clove and filled with jam. Usually, Linzer cookies are just a mini version of the nutty and buttery Linzertorte and these cookies are a staple during Christmas period in Austria and Germany .
LET’S SORT OUT THE INGREDIENTS!
Traditional Austrian Linzer cookies are prepared with rich and buttery shortbread dough which is prepared with either ground almonds or hazelnuts and eggs, but I have made without eggs and yet cookies turned out fabulous. So for the cookies dough, you’ll need plain flour, butter, sugar, ground nuts, ground spices and baking agent.
Once cookies are baked, they are spread with tart jam and mostly raspberry or blackcurrant jam, preserve or jelly used for filling.
Once filled with jam, the top part of cookies dusted with icing sugar to give a festive look.
DO I NEED PROPER LINZER COOKIE CUTTER SET?
To prepare Linzer cookies you don’t require a proper cutter set. They can be made perfect with even ordinary cookie cutter. You just need one size cookie cutter and a tiny cap of any bottle to cut out the small hole. However, if you really want to be creative you can buy a different shape and size cookie cutter such as Snowflakes or Star cutter.
TIPS FOR MAKING LINZER COOKIES!
Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Once the dough is prepared, wrap it in a cling film or greaseproof paper and chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Work fairly quick when you work with dough and cut out the cookies so the dough stays chilled and firm. If you feel that cookies are getting soft, place them back in the refrigerator until the dough has firmed up again. This will help them retain their original shape and prevent cookies from spreading.
CAN I USE WHOLE NUTS TO MAKE EGGLESS LINGER COOKIES?
Of course, you can, if ground almond or hazelnuts not available where you are. If you are using whole almonds or hazelnuts, toast them in the oven for 8-10 minutes on 350F. Let it cool completely then grind it in a food processor with 1/4 cup sugar.
HOW TO MAKE EGGLESS LINGER COOKIES?
First in a big bowl combine all the dry ingredients such as plain flour, almond or hazelnut flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon powder. In another bowl or stand mixer add unsalted butter and icing sugar, beat until mixture becomes pale and fluffy. Add flour mixture little by little in the butter mixture and combine everything. Divide the dough into two portions, put it on butter or greaseproof paper and cover it with another wax paper. Leave the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 350 F or 180C. Remove the dough from the fridge and leave it for 5 minutes on the worktop. Roll the one disk of dough into approximately 1/8″ thickness and cut the cookies with a cookie cutter. Repeat the same procedure for the second disk of dough but this time cut small top for each cookie, using a small cookie cutter or a cap of the bottle.
Arrange the cookies on a lined baking tray and bake them about 12 minutes or until just starting to get golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
Dust icing/powdered sugar on baked cookies with cutouts.
Spread a teaspoon of jam or preserve on the bottom half of the cookies, top up with cookies with cutouts. Store in a metal tin for up to a week.
Eggless Linzer Cookies
ingredients
instructions
NOTES:
* In other countries Butter paper aka greaseproof, baking, parchment or wax paper.
A flavourful and delicious Instant Pot Thai Carrot, Cashew Ginger Soup that is fully vegan and anti-inflammatory! A warm and soothing bowl of this soup is pure bliss in this freezing weather. This easy and simple recipe takes only 30 minutes of yours to prepare. Don’t forget to add this soup recipe to your repertoire!
How are you all? New years greetings from our family to yours, and I hope you are having an awesome start of 2019 . I am sure you all had a gala time with friends and family and did not watch out or count any calories in your food, well I did not either.
Because Christmas is the time for joy, cheer and make memories and not to count calories. Once all that fun finishes and the new year starts, I kinda feel guilty for my body and I’m all frazzled out, all that rich and sugar loaded food leaves me on my knees.
So, always I keep a few healthy and nutritious recipes and ingredients handy to detox our bodies after the festive season like Diwali and Christmas. Oh yes, for us party starts in October and finishes in the new year 🙂 We started our new year day with this amazingly delicious Thai Carrot and Cashew Soup!
Four of us were bowled over by this soup, we gobbled it up without any need for bread, and demanded seconds.
WINTER AND SOUP GO HAND IN HAND
Soup is perfect to fill your tummy and warm your cockles on chilly days. There is something so comforting about a bowl of steaming soup, In the season of frost and snow a big batch of vegetable soup can be so handy for the family. Soup is food for the soul as well as the belly and keeps you full for longer and surely helps you shred those extra calories from the festive season.
THAI CARROT AND CASHEW SOUP
This super creamy and nutritious soup is packed with flavours and a powerhouse of nutrients. This Thai style soup is prepared with fresh carrots which are packed with vitamin A. The soup gets a kick from the ginger, onion-garlic that are a wealth of anti-inflammatory. Addition of cashews adds ultimate creaminess, as well as thickness and, provides that extra protein and thin coconut lends that extra richness and silkiness to the soup.
I DON’T HAVE AN INSTANT POT
But, you still can prepare this luscious soup in an ordinary pan or stovetop pressure cooker. Just follow the exact method. Carrots may take slightly longer to cook in a pan.
LET’S TALK INGREDIENTS
Vegetables – We will need carrots for this recipe, although we are using fresh carrots in this recipe frozen or tinned ones won’t harm if you use it.
Onion , garlic, fresh ginger just adds that extra flavours and nutritious benefits to the soup. A handful of freshly chopped coriander would be so lovely for garnishing the soup.
Spices/Paste – The highlight of this soup is Thai curry paste , you’ll only need a couple of spoons and that will turn this soup into. Yellow or red, both works fine.
Nuts – Raw cashew nuts, an alternative to dairy ingredients in this recipe.
Coconut milk – You’ll need thin coconut milk which helps to enhance the Thai flavours.
Liquid – Vegetable stock is the perfect ingredient for this recipe, it does not matter if you use fresh homemade veg stock or prepare it with the vegetable stock cubes.
Thai Carrot, Cashew Ginger Soup
Equipment
- 1 Instant pot
- 1 Chopping board
- 1 Knife peeler
Ingredients
- 500 grams carrots washed, peeled and roughly chopped
- 150 grams cashew nuts raw
- 2 tablespoon thai curry paste red or yellow
- 1 big onion peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 750 ml vegetable stock
- 60 ml light coconut milk go up to 120 ml
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lime juice or lemon
- 2 tablespoon coriander fresh
- Pinch chilli flakes optional
Instructions
- Set up an instant pot according to manufacturer instructions to cook the soup.
- Press saute for 4 minutes, add oil, onion and garlic.
- Then add ginger and curry paste.
- Add carrots, cashews and veg stock.
- Add salt and lock the cooker with its lid.
- Set the pressure cooker on high pressure for 6 minutes.
- Let the build pressure.
- Once done release the steam and puree the soup into a puree.
- Add coconut milk ( reserve some for garnishing) and lime juice.
- Serve in a serving bowl, garnish it with the freshly chopped coriander, coconut milk and red chilli flakes ( if using).
- Serve hot with crusty bread or toast.
- For low carb, option serve without any bread.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
