Linzer Torte Bar Cookies

Serves 32 · 60 minutes

__notoc__ Linzer torte bar cookies are quick, easy cookies that offer flavors reminiscent of the famous Linzer torte, but with much less work.

Suits: Vegetarian, Pescatarian. Allergens named in the ingredients: Gluten, Eggs, Milk, Tree nuts. Flags come from what shops, restaurants and cooks list and from the ingredient names. Always check the label. This is not medical advice.

Ingredients

1½ cup (3 sticks) / 340 g Butter, slightly softened
2 cups / 400 g White granulated sugar
4 tsp (20 ml) / 7 g Unsweetened cocoa
¼ tsp (2.5 ml) Salt
¼ tsp (1.25 ml) Ground cloves
2 tsp (10 ml) Ground cinnamon
3 Whole eggs
3 cups / 250 g Hazelnut flour (ground whole hazelnuts/filberts)
2½ cups / 300 g All-purpose flour
1 cup / 300 g Fruit preserves, preferably raspberry or apricot

Method

Preheat oven to 350 °F (175°C, gas mark 4—moderate).
Put the butter in a large mixing bowl, and beat it with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds. Alternatively, beat it with a wooden spoon until soft.
Beat in the sugar, cocoa, salt, cloves, and cinnamon, scraping the bowl as needed, until you have a smooth, dark mixture.
Beat in the eggs.
Stir in the flour and hazelnut flour. If the butter was cold when you started, this step may be difficult.
Spread about three-quarters of the cookie dough in the baking pan, reserving the remaining quarter for the topping.
Spread the fruit preserves evenly over the raw dough in the baking pan.
Drop the remaining cookie dough by spoonfuls on top of the fruit preserves. If desired, these can be flattened using the back of a spoon, wet fingers, or the waxed paper wrappers from the butter.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes, until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in the pan. Cut into 32 bars (4x8 grid).