Sourdough Linzer Cookies

Sourdough Linzer Cookies are an elegant holiday cookie made of two tender shortbread cookies that sandwich fruit jam and dusted in powdered sugar. This recipe incorporates sourdough discard as a twist on the classic buttery cookie.

Topped with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar, they’re visually stunning for gifting and store well.

These Austrian cookies are perfect for gifting (the recipe makes 48 small cookies!), holiday gatherings, or simply enjoying with a cup of tea. Plus, they’re a festive way to use up your sourdough discard and celebrate the holidays.

The detailed recipe walks through how to make these easy sourdough discard linzer cookies with all of my ingredient recommendations, baking tips, and photos of each step.

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What are Linzer Cookies?

Linzer cookies are a type of sandwich cookie inspired by the Linzer Torte, a traditional Austrian dessert, from the city of Linz. They’re somewhat similar to Knots Berry Farm or Pepperidge Farm jammy cookies!

These shortbread cookies are made with a buttery, nut-based dough, typically incorporating ground almonds like in this recipe, hazelnuts, or walnuts. The ground nuts give them a rich and slightly crumbly texture.

While similar to thumbprint cookies, linzer cookies are made of two cookies that are sandwiched together with a layer of fruit jam in between. Raspberry and apricot jam are common which I use here, and the top cookie is often cut out like a windowpane to reveal the filling in a decorative pattern. Patterns may include hearts (great for Valentine’s Day cookies), circles, diamonds, stars, and more.

Linzer cookies are usually dusted with powdered sugar, adding a festive snowy touch that makes them a popular choice for Christmas baking.

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🔍 Tips for Making Sourdough Linzer Cookies

• Let the buttery cookie dough rest and chill for at least an hour before baking. This allows the delicate dough to hydrate, ensuring the cookies don’t spread too much, making the dough easier to roll out. I do this in many sourdough dessert recipes and cookies.
• Don’t overbake.
  • In my oven, I found 8-10 minutes to be the perfect amount of time for the cookies. But every oven varies and sheet pans can run hot. Be sure to watch them and take them out just as the edges turn the slightest golden brown.
• This dough is very forgiving, so it’s okay to re-roll it out repeatedly, unlike trying to get Flaky Sourdough Biscuits or Sourdough Pie Crust.
• Check your nut flour to ensure it hasn’t gone rancid. Nut flour can go bad quickly, so smell it, and if it smells sour, you should get a new bag.
• Use a high-quality jam that isn’t too runny like Bonne Maman so the jam doesn’t leak when you sandwich them. If it does, cook down the jam a bit in a saucepan to thicken.
• Roll out the dough to the same thickness so your sourdough shortbread cookies will be uniform and bake evenly.
• Finally, dust the top cut-out cookies with powdered sugar once they’ve cooled completely, but before assembly.

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🛠 Tools Needed

You don’t need any fancy equipment to make sourdough linzer cookies, but I list my tool recommendations below so you’ll have the most success!

While I do call for a stand mixer for this recipe, you can cream the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer as well.

• Baking scale
  • Ingredients like flour and sourdough starter weigh differently from person to person when measured by volume. For the best results, I recommend using a baking or kitchen scale.
• Stand mixer (optional but helpful)
  • This is mostly for creaming the butter and sugar, but you can use an electric hand mixer too.
• Sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
• Linzer cookie cutter
  • I’m personally not a big cookie decorator, so this easy device helps you create beautiful even cookie without having to frost or do anything intricate!
  • It’s a small scalloped edge cookie cutter that you can use to cut the bases. Then, you add various shapes like hearts, circles, diamonds, etc. to cut out the top cookies. Well worth it for this recipe since it makes 48 cookies!
  • Alternatively, you can use small graduated round cookie cutters. For the large cutter, use a 2 ½-3″ cutter. Then, use a 1″ cutter for the top window cookie.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for my ingredient recommendations, possible substitutions, and variations.

• All-purpose flour
  • AP flour will give you a crumbly, tender sourdough shortbread cookie in tandem with the almond flour. However, for a bit more robust or hearty flavor, you can add whole wheat or rye flour.
• Almond flour
  • Linzer cookies are traditionally made with some amount of nut flour such as almonds, hazlenuts, or walnuts. You can use any of those here, but almond is the most neutral and compliments the other flavors best.
  • If you don’t have almond flour, you can substitute with more all-purpose flour, but I recommend adding 2 TBS of cornstarch to the flour to get a softer texture.
• Salt
• Cinnamon
  • Most holiday cookies include ground cinnamon. It adds a subtle warmth to the background but isn’t prominent like in Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls, Sourdough Graham Crackers, or Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread.
  • Cardamom or lemon zest is a delicious substitute for cinnamon in this recipe with a citrusy flavor.
• Egg Yolk
  • Some recipes call for more yolks or a full egg, but since the discard has water in it, I wanted to minimize any additional liquid. However, the egg yolk adds a bit of yellow color the dough, enhances the tender texture, and helps bind the dough. It also adds a bit of protein, making them less fragile.
  • Plus, there is no mechanical leavener like baking powder or baking soda, so the egg is adding a bit of lift.
• Unsalted butter, softened
  • Butter is essential in this recipe since it’s the predominant rich flavor in shortbread cookies. It helps with their crumbly texture by inhibiting gluten formation.
• Granulated sugar
  • The sugar adds sweetness, structure, and helps retains moisture in the dough. The cookies are sweet, but not overly so and you dough will be harder to roll out if you leave out or substitute with another type of sugar.
  • I don’t recommend using honey, maple syrup, or other liquid sweeteners in this recipe.
• Sourdough discard (or active starter)
  • Sourdough discard is unfed sourdough starter that you can use in sourdough discard recipes. When I feed my starter, I store the discard in the refrigerator so there’s no waste. Learn how to make sourdough starter from scratch and my top sourdough starter tips.
• Vanilla extract
  • Vanilla adds a depth to the cookies, but you can add a ¼ tsp of almond extract as well for more nutty flavor.
• Fruit jam
  • Raspberry and apricot jams are classic jam for Linzer cookies for their bright colors, but you can use any jam you want like in my Sourdough Babka with Any Jam or Sourdough Pop Tarts recipes.
  • I also have jam recipes like my Concord Grape Jam with Vanilla and Apple Butter you could use!
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

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👨‍🍳 How to Make Sourdough Linzer Cookies

Follow this visual recipe guide as you make these sourdough discard linzer cookies. It includes additional tips and photos to help you throughout the process.

1. Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, almond flour, salt, and cinnamon.

Set aside.

2. Mix the Shortbread Cookie Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and sugar together on medium speed until it becomes light, fluffy, and pale in color.

Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract, and sourdough discard and mix until the wet ingredients are combined.

On low speed, slowly pour in the dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together, but avoid over mixing. The dough will be relatively thick and butter, but not wet.

3. Divide and Chill the Dough

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into two rounds. Dividing into two lets you have smaller, thinner rounds that will chill faster. You can also store one to bake another time.

Cover each in plastic wrap and press into discs.

Now, chill the dough for at least an hour before baking. The dough needs to chill to firm up and be easier to roll out.

4. Roll and Cut Out the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and line a couple of large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove one of the chilled dough discs from the refrigerator and let it warm up for 5 minutes or so.

Then, flour your work surface, the top of the dough, and rolling pin and roll out the dough into a thin slab about ⅛-¼” thick. Try to rotate, turn, and flip the dough as you roll and flour in between to prevent sticking.

It’s normal for the dough to tear some, but it’s very forgivable. Just patch any big gaps if needed with more dough.

Now, dip your linzer cookie cutter in flour and cut out the cookies. You want equal amounts of windowpane cutout tops and round bottoms. I also bake the little cutouts for snacking, but you can roll them back up too.

Take any scraps, bring them back together into a mass, and re-roll out to cut more cookies. I can usually get about 48 single cookies (or 24 full cookies when sandwiched) just from this one half of the dough!

Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets spaced an inch apart. They don’t spread much at all.

5. Bake

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) with a rack in the middle.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are try to the touch and the sides are ever so slightly start to brown. Finally, chill on wire racks until completely cool.

If baking more than one pan at a time, rotate and switch the pans halfway through.

Meanwhile, you can roll and cut out the other half of dough if you like.

6. Assemble

Once the cookies have cooled completely, place all of the top cut-out cookies on one pan for dusting with powdered sugar. This way, the sugar doesn’t cover the fruit jam!

I use a small fine-mesh strainer and spoon powdered sugar into it and tap with my hand to lightly dust the cut out cookies.

To assemble, spoon about ½ tsp of jam onto the middle of a base cookie. Finally, lightly sandwich a dusted cut-out cookie on top.

That’s it! Repeat with your remaining cookies.

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How to Store

These homemade sourdough linzer cookies store well for days! It makes them perfect for gifting in Christmas, holiday, or Valentine’s Day cookie boxes!

Store the sourdough discard linzer cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. To not smush them or have powdered sugar get transferred, try to store in a single layer.

You can easily freeze the unbaked cookie dough for up to 3 months to bake on your own convenience. Just thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake the next day. I don’t recommend freezing baked and assembled linzer cookies because the jam can leak.

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❓ FAQs:

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Other Sourdough Winter Recipes You May Enjoy:

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