The day we moved into our house, my next door neighbor stopped by to say hello and instructed us to call her Nana "everyone in the neighborhood does", she said with a wry smile that only a ninety-six year old can cultivate. And so it was, we called her Nana.
Although we haven't actually seen each other all that much, Nana and I have a daily ritual. Every day when I walk the dog we get her paper. She lives in a house at the back of the lot up quite a few stairs. But even at her age, she beats me to it some days. And sometimes, like yesterday, we meet each other on the stairs and have a nice chat. This past weekend she said, she turned ninety-eight years old.
So I figured that deserves a pretty cookie or two.
I just hope. . .
. . . these fit the bill. You can taste test a lot of cookies in ninety-eight years.
Lovely Linzers for Nana
Ingredients:
- 1 cup softened unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Powdered sugar (for topping)
- High quality raspberry preserves
Pre-heat the oven to 375.
Cream the butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg and mix until well incorporated. Slowly add the flour, making sure not to over mix.
The dough will be a bit crumbly but will roll out nicely. Divide it into two halves. Roll the first one out and cut the outside shape of your cookies (I chose a large heart and classic square Linzer shapes). Then cut a small shape out of the center of every other cookie.
Using a dough knife (or a regular knife) to assist you, carefully transfer the cookies to an un-greased cookie sheet. Chill in the freezer for 5 minutes and then bake for 9-12 minutes or until the cookies are just golden around the edges.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and immediately dust the cookies with a cut-out in them with powdered sugar. When the cookies are cool, spread a thin layer of preserves on the bottom of a cookie that does not have a hole in it and sandwich it with a cookie that does. Repeat this to complete the rest of the Linzers.
Store in an airtight container.
~ Sarah
*Last time in Recipes: Matzo Ball Soup
