Cookie Swap: Emily's Pistachio Linzer Hearts

Emily's Pistachio Linzer Hearts

These are a beautiful cookie for the holidays. There are a few steps to keep track of, but are worth the precision. Nestled heart-shaped cookie cutters are widely available at your local homewares store, Amazon or Target.

Recipe By: Emily Peterson

Baked By: David Cunningham 

Ingredients

Instructions

1. In a food processor, pulse together pistachios, cornstarch, salt and baking powder until the mixture resembles green sand. Set aside.
2. In a mixer, cream together butter and 2/3 cup of the confectioner’s sugar. Add almond extract and mix completely. Stir in the pistachio mixture, then stir in the flour.
3. Divide dough in half, and wrap two discs in plastic wrap, using the wrap to pull together the crumbly dough. Refrigerate 1 hour.
4. Heat oven to 325F.
5. Roll dough out to 1/8” thick. Cut out using a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Then, through half the cookies, use a slightly smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to make small, heart-shaped windows.
6. Move the cookies with the windows to one parchment- or silpat-lined tray and the cookies without the windows to a second tray. Bake 13 minutes, until the edges are just golden brown. The window cookies may cook a little faster – keep an eye on them. Remove from the oven and let the cookies sit on the pan for a minute or two, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Heat the jam in a small saucepan to loosen it. Smear the cookies without the windows with a little jam. Sift the remaining confectioner’s sugar over the cookies with the windows. Make a sandwich with the jam-smeared bottoms and the sugared tops. Use a small spoon to fill the windows with a little extra jam.