Heart-Shaped Cookies

Heart-shaped cookies and other treats make a symbolically appropriate dessert option for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries and any other time you want to express your affection. They’re even more effective when you choose a heart-shaped cutout cookie filled with a vivid red jam, like these Linzer heart cookies.

Linzer cookies have an especially rich flavor and delicate texture, from their butter content and their use of nuts. Assembling cutout cookies like these takes a few extra steps, but the end result is totally worth it.

Ingredients for Heart-Shaped Cookies

• Butter: Butter gives the cookies much of their richness and flavor and also works with the sugar and flour to give them their pleasing texture. Let the butter soften for about an hour before you start.
• Sugar: The sugar in the recipe is largely a sweetener, but creaming the butter and sugar together also helps make the cookies light.
• Eggs: Eggs in the cookie act as an emulsifier, helping the ingredients blend together smoothly, but their protein also contributes structure to the cookies. It’s best to use room-temperature eggs when baking.
• Flour: The all-purpose flour in the cookie dough helps bind the other ingredients together and gives the finished cookies their delicate texture.
• Cocoa: The baking cocoa in this recipe isn’t intended to give a noticeable chocolate flavor (that’s why there’s so little of it). Instead, it lends depth and earthiness to the cookie flavor.
• Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves: The warm spices, like the cocoa, play a supporting role in the cookies’ flavor. You’ll barely taste them, but they bring out the nuttiness of the almonds and complement the clean, fruity flavor of the jam.
• Ground almonds: The ground almonds in the recipe provide an understated nutty flavor in the finished cookies and give them their delicate, shortbread-like texture. They also add a welcome shot of protein.
• Raspberry jam: The jam filling adds sweetness, complements the almonds beautifully and also just plain looks beautiful in the finished cookies.
• Confectioners’ sugar: Powdered sugar is a final garnish on the cookies, giving them their elegant “for company” appearance.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the dough

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each thoroughly into the butter mixture before proceeding. In a second bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, then gradually add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing until incorporated. Stir in the ground almonds. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour, or until it’s firm enough to handle easily.

Editor’s Tip: The dough will chill more quickly and evenly if you pat it into one or two flat discs before you put them into the refrigerator (wrap or cover the dough so it won’t dry out in the fridge). At the rolling-out stage, you can work with half of the dough while the other half remains in the fridge, which will make the rolling easier.

Step 2: Roll and cut the cookies

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, then roll out the dough to an even 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough into hearts, using a 3-inch heart-shaped cutter. Cut a 1-1/2-inch hole in the center of half the cookies, using a round cutter or a smaller heart. Dust any excess flour from the dough scraps, re-roll them and repeat until the dough is used up.

Editor’s Tip: It can be difficult to achieve an even 1/8-inch sheet of dough when working freehand, even if you’re a skilled baker. A rolling pin with adjustable guides is a great help, and it’s something you should have in your collection if you bake a lot of rolled cookies.

Step 3: Bake the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the cookies on ungreased baking sheets. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown. Remove the cookies to wire racks to cool.

Step 4: Assemble the Linzer hearts

Spread 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry jam over the bottom of the solid heart-shaped cookies. Sprinkle the cutout cookies with a light dusting of confectioners’ sugar, then carefully place them over the jam.

Heart-Shaped Cookie Variations

• Change up the jam: Raspberry jam is a classic and traditional option for filling Linzer cookies, but even in their Central European homeland it’s not the only one. Red currant jelly is another traditional choice (favored in the city of Linz, Austria, where the Linzertorte originated), and so is apricot jam. You can work with any of your favorites, and it’ll be fine as long as it has a clear, vivid color and isn’t too sweet. Red jams and jellies are the logical choice for heart-shaped cookies, of course, but you can make the cookies in other shapes for different occasions. A tray of Linzer cookies in different shapes and colors is genuinely impressive!
• Switch to hazelnuts: While our recipe calls for almonds, ground hazelnuts are another perfectly traditional option that you’ll often see used in Linzer torte or Linzer cookies. You can use either blanched or unblanched nuts as you see fit, with blanched nuts yielding paler cookies and unblanched (skin on) making them darker. The hazelnuts give your cookies a distinctively different, but equally delicious, flavor.
• Swap out the cookie dough: Obviously the cookies won’t be Linzer hearts if you do this, but any rolled cookie can be used to make heart-shaped cutouts filled with jam. A plain sugar cookie will do in a pinch, but something relatively rich and delicate like shortbread is similar to Linzer cookies, without the expense of the nuts.

How to Store Heart-Shaped Cookies

As with any cookie, Linzer cookies need to be stored in an airtight container for best results. Skip the old-school cookie jar, which lets in lots of air. Instead, opt for a food-storage container with a tight-fitting lid, or pack them directly into a decorative cookie tin. If you layer the cookies, put a sheet of waxed paper or parchment between them to keep the jam from making the next layer of cookies messy.

How long will these Linzer heart cookies keep?

Recipes usually say to serve them within seven days, but in practice they’ll easily remain enjoyable for two to three weeks after they’re baked. Their texture will soften over time, but they’ll remain tasty.

Can I freeze Linzer heart cookies?

You have a couple of options here. You can certainly freeze the finished, assembled cookies if you wish, though some jams will thaw better than others (buying higher-quality jam, or making your own jam, is never a bad idea). If you go this route, omit the confectioners’ sugar until you’ve thawed the cookies. Freezing the cut and baked cookies without filling is a better option, so you can dust and fill them after they’re thawed.

Heart-Shaped Cookie Tips

Is the dough supposed to be this soft?

It’s the nature of the dough, yes. Its softness and stickiness are because of its relatively small quantity of flour, but that in turn is what makes their finished texture so delicate and delicious. Just be patient, and keep the dough well chilled. If necessary, put it back into the fridge and go relax for a few minutes while it chills (or if you’re under a time constraint, press it flat and slide it into your freezer for a few minutes).

Should I use more flour if the dough sticks to my counter?

Use the smallest quantity of flour you can get away with, because the more you add in the rolling process the less delicate the finished cookies will be. It’s better to use a thin, flexible steel cake decorator’s spatula to carefully separate your cookies from the work surface, or alternatively you could dust the counter with confectioners’ sugar. It’s what professional bakers do when working with marzipan or rolled fondant (two other very sticky things) and it works well without toughening the cookies.

Can I use almond flour instead of grinding the nuts?

Absolutely. If your local supermarket or bulk-food store has almond flour (or hazelnut flour, see Variations above), you can use that. It’s just nuts that have been pre-ground for you.

What if I hate the seeds in raspberry jam?

Well, you’re not alone. The traditional way to deal with this is by warming the jam (your microwave works well) and then forcing it through a wire mesh strainer to remove the seeds. The seedless jam will look prettier and spread more evenly.