Linzer Biscuits

Back to baking again and this time something a little different.  These are the first biscuits I've made using a walnut dough.  

You may have heard of Linzer Torte?  Considered to be the oldest cake in the world, the Linzer Torte was named after the city of Linz in Austria.  It's a pastry made with ground nuts and filled with blackcurrant preserve.  These are the biscuit version of the Linzer Torte.  So instead of a pastry base, you cut out biscuit shapes, bake them and sandwich them with a preserve.  I wonder what's Austrian for hey presto?

I really liked the taste and texture of the biscuits - both crisp and crumbly and just enough of a nutty taste without overpowering. 

They were easy and quick to make and the dough rolled out nicely but if it gets too warm to handle, pop it back in the fridge for a few minutes.   

Next time I'd make them a little thicker and perhaps use next cookie cutter size up for a more substantial biscuit.

As I've noted in the recipe below, I didn't have a small enough cutter for the inner circle so I used an apple corer (!) - which is why the circles are a bit unshapely.

The recipe here uses walnuts, but you can substitute almonds or hazelnuts.  Not having blackcurrant preserve, I used raspberry.

I'm sharing these with the lovely Mairi at Toast who is hosting this month's Sweet New Zealand.

Linzer Biscuits

2/3 cup (100g) standard flour

2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar

1 1/2 cups (180g) walnuts, finely chopped

1 hard-boiled egg yolk only, crumbled

90g (3 oz) cold butter, diced

1 egg yolk

jam to fill biscuits (I used raspberry jam)

icing sugar

Combine the flour, sugar, walnuts and hard-boiled egg in a bowl.  Add butter and rub in with your fingertips until combined.

Stir in the egg yolk until the dough comes together.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth.

Cut dough in half and roll each portion between sheets of baking paper to 3mm (1/8 inch) thick.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes (leave the baking paper between the sheets).

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C/325 degrees F.  Grease two oven trays and line with baking paper.

Cut circles or fluted rounds from the first portion of the dough and place on the trays about 2.5cm (1 inch) apart.  Cut the same circles from the second half of the dough and then cut out a 2.5cm (1 inch) circle or fluted round from the centre of each circle.  (I used an apple corer to do this as I didn't have a small enough cutter.)

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and cool on the trays.  

Sandwich the biscuits with jam and dust the tops with icing sugar.

The biscuits (without the jam) can be be kept in an airtight container for about a week.

Monte Carlo cream biscuits

These biscuits are based on a manufactured brand by food company, Arnott’s.  I have no idea why they are called Monte Carlos.  Possibly a small market research focus group sat around choosing a name.  I once sat on such a team for Cadbury’s Dream (white chocolate). I imagined I’d be in choccie heaven tasting all that chocolate but after a few samples, I didn’t want to try any more.  It did not have a lasting effect however…

These are sweet biscuits sandwiched together with buttercream and raspberry jam fillings.  They could also be eaten on their own.  They’re a bit less dainty than melting moments and if I had to choose then melting moments would win.

Traditionally the biscuit shape is oval but I found it easier to take a tablespoon and make them into a round shape, as the dough was quite sticky.  You can make them smaller or larger – just adjust the cooking time. 

Fill them just before serving otherwise filled biscuits will soften up. I stored the unfilled biscuits in a plastic bag in the freezer and spooned a little buttercream and jam on two halves in the morning and had it with mid-morning coffee.  Perfect.

I find store-bought raspberry jam too cloyingly sweet so used my homemade plum jam instead and that gave a nice sharp contrast to the sweetness of the biscuits and cream filling.

Monte Carlo biscuits

185g (6oz) butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla essence

110g (1/2 cup) light brown sugar

1 egg

185g (1¼ cups) self-raising flour

110g (3/4 cup) standard flour

40g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut

160g (1/2 cup) plum jam (raspberry is more traditional)

For the buttercream filling

60g (2 ounces) butter, softened

120g (3/4 cup) icing sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

2 teaspoons milk

Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F).  Grease two oven trays.

Beat the butter, vanilla and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.   Add the egg and beat until well combined.  Sift the two flours together and add to the mixture.  Add the coconut and stir lightly to combine.

Take about a tablespoon of dough and place on the baking tray.  Leave a space of about 4cm (1½ inch) between biscuits.  Score the surface of each biscuit with a fork to rough up the surface and to flatten slightly.

Bake for approximately 12 minutes.  I baked one tray whilst preparing the second.  I always find I get better results with one tray only in the oven when it comes to biscuits. Cool on trays.

While biscuits are cooling make the buttercream filling by beating the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the extract and milk. 

When biscuits are completely cold, place about one teaspoon buttercream on the middle of one biscuit and one teaspoon jam on the other.  Gently press together so jam and buttercream are visible round the edge but not spilling over.

Recipe adapted from The Australian Women’s Weekly afternoon tea cookbook.  So far the recipes I’ve made from this have all turned out well.

This was a mini-version I made.
The hand is not mine!

I am heading off to Europe shortly so if family, friends and travel are not too much overload, I may get in some mini-posts!  There won’t be too much cooking going on but I’m never far from food (and coffee) of some kind.