Raspberry Linzer Cookie Bars
A slightly cinnamon-y cookie base covered in raspberry jam, covered in more cookie, all topped with powdered sugar. Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. The recipe is mostly the same, but I added some notes and changed the instructions so it is easier to mix by hand if you are not using a mixer.
Servings: 24 bars
Calories: 187kcal
Equipment
- 9"x13" baking pan (preferably light colored or glass)
- small offset spatula
Ingredients
Cookie Base/Topping
- 170 g butter, room temperature (1.5 sticks/6 oz)
- 113 g confectioners' sugar (~1 cup/4 oz) - using confectioners' sugar here will give a denser, fudgier texture
- 50 g sugar (¼ cup/1.75 oz)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract - could also use hazelnut extract. I prefer almond
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 142 g almond flour (1½ cups/5 oz) - could also use hazelnut meal
- 240 g all-purpose flour (~2 cups/8½ oz)
Jam Filling
- 411 g raspberry jam (1¼ cups/14½ oz)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 30 g confectioners' sugar to dust
Instructions
Prep
- Spray your 9"x13" baking pan with baking spray and line it with a parchment sling.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C/gas mark 4).
Cookie Dough
- Make sure your butter is soft (room temperature) and then beat together the butter, sugars, and salt until fluffy.
- Add the vanilla, almond extract and egg and beat until fully incorporated.
- Add in the baking powder, cinnamon, almond flour and all-purpose flour and mix only until it comes together.
- Take about ¾ of the cookie dough and add it to the prepared pan. Set the other ¼ aside to be the topping.
- With an offset spatula, spread the dough into the baking pan, into as even a layer as possible. Wash that spatula, but keep it around.
- Bake the bars for 15 minutes, until the middle is just set. Leave the oven on! This is going back in soon.
Jam Filling
- While the crust is baking, add the jam and lemon zest to a small saucepan and heat on low, just until it loosens up. You could also heat it in the microwave in short bursts.
- When the pan comes out of the oven, set it on a cooling rack and dump the jam and zest on top of the bars. With the offset spatula, spread it across the bars in an even layer.
- Take the rest of the cookie dough and sprinkle bits of it all over top of the jam layer. This is not going to be an even layer, but kind of a clumpy layer. The jam should show through.
- Put the pan back into the oven for 22-24 minutes. The jam will be bubbling around the edges when it's done.
- Cool the bars in the pan completely and then pop them into the fridge for about a half hour. This will make them firm up so it will be easier to remove them from the pan.
- Using the parchment sling, carefully remove the whole bake from the pan and place it onto a cutting board. You can also cut them in the pan if you prefer.
- Dust the top with a generous amount of confectioners' sugar.
- Cut into 24 bars (about 1.5"x3.25", unless you plan to cut off the edges).
Notes
These keep well for about a week or so in an airtight container in the fridge.
A different type of jam would work well here too. Apricot or blueberry would be perfect!
Nutrition
Calories: 187kcal