Brown Sugar Linzer Cookies with Ball® Salted Caramel Pear Butter
This post is sponsored by the makers of Ball® home canning products.*
I absolutely adore these cookies! Every Christmas, my mom makes brown sugar shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate, and they are some of our favorite cookies to enjoy during the holidays. I have been wanting to make a Linzer version of these cookies for some time now, and I realized that the perfect filling for a brown sugar shortbread cookie is the Ball® Salted Caramel Pear Butter that we canned a couple of months ago!
This cookie is soft, buttery, and has all of the delicious flavors of autumn. The Salted Caramel Pear Butter really brings an extra level of flavor to these cookies, as it tastes like a delicious dessert all on its own. I love it to pair with a sweet! It would work beautifully in a little jam tart as well.
history of linzer cookies:
In the late 17th century, the Linzertorte was created in Austria. A cookie-like crust was made from ground nuts, namely almonds, as wheat was expensive and difficult to come by. The crust was baked into a tart. Eventually, in the city Linz, they began making the tart crust into little cookies. Each cookie was cut out with shapes such as hearts, stars, or circles. These were called the Eyes of Linz and were filled with currant jam.
Today, you will most often find these little shortbread cookies filled with raspberry jam or preserves. While I love a classic, I thought it might be fun to add my own little spin on this Austrian holiday cookie!
how to make ball® salted caramel pear butter:
INGREDIENTS:
• 4 lbs. Pears, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup apple cider
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2-1/2 cups dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp. Sea salt or kosher salt
Directions:
Place chopped pears, apple cider and lemon juice in a 4-6 qt. Crock-Pot®. Set the heat on high and simmer, covered, until pears have softened; about 40 minutes. Turn heat off.
Process pear mixture using an immersion blender, or in batches in the bowl of a food processor, until puree is smooth.
Combine pear mixture with brown sugar and salt in the Crock-Pot®; turn heat to high and place lid on a diagonal over Crock-Pot® allowing steam to escape at both ends. Simmer on high, stirring every 30 minutes or so, until puree thickens, darkens in color, and holds it’s shape on a spoon; about 3-4 hours.
Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready to use, do not boil. Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
Ladle hot pear butter into a hot jar leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar and apply band, adjust to fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
Process jars 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat; remove lid, let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 12 hours. Lid should not flex when center is pressed.
the method:
This cookie dough is incredibly soft and pliable. The almond flour changes the texture of the dough in comparison to using all-purpose flour. The flavor is wonderful! Because the dough is so soft, you will want to have plenty of extra flour on hand to dust the countertop and the dough itself when rolling. It might also be a good idea to have a bench scraper on hand to scrape any sticky dough off of the counter.
I highly recommend refrigerating the dough for at least an hour before rolling and cutting, or even two hours before. The colder the dough, the easier it will be to work with.
When rolling out the cookies, I enjoyed how they baked at about 1/4-inch thickness. Any thinner than this, and they become very crispy.
If you want to add a shape to your cookies, a star is traditional. I had a little acorn cookie cutter that I thought was cute for these last days of autumn. It makes for a cute Thanksgiving treat, too!
Before putting these cookies together, make sure that they are fully cooled. If they are too warm, the fruit butter may seep out of the sides and the powdered sugar will melt. Good things come to those who wait!
A little nutty, salty, and delicious spiced these cookies make a wonderful goodbye to fall and welcome into winter. I can’t believe that the canning season is finally over, and we are ready to start delving into our pile of home canned foods! Though I won’t lie… We have eaten plenty of our jam already! What can I say… My kids love jam.
When you are all done baking, you can store your cookies in the beautiful Ball® Stack & Store Jars. They have an airtight rubber seal around the edge to keep all of the freshness inside of the jar. Perfect for cookie storage!
I hope that you enjoy making these cookies this holiday season!
xoxo Kayla
CLICK HERE TO SHOP BALL® STACK & STORE JARS
This is a sponsored post that is part of an ongoing partnership with the Fresh Preserving Division of Newell Brands. They have provided jars, equipment and monetary compensation. All thoughts and opinions expressed remain my own.
Brown Sugar Linzer Cookies with Ball® Salted Caramel Pear Butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 8 oz jar Ball® Salted Caramel Pear Butter
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the sugars and beat on high speed until the butter is light and fluffy, about 5-8 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Add the salt and cream of tartar and beat in thoroughly. Next, add in the flours, and beat until a consistent dough forms. It will be very soft!
- Shape the dough into a large, flat disc and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Set aside two nonstick cookie sheets.
- Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Roll out one half of the dough to about 1/4-inch thick. With a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out rounds. Knead the dough back together, roll it out, and cut out more circles. You will want to cut out about 24 circle cookies per half. With a smaller cookie cutter, cut out a shape in the center of each cookie.
- Repeat this process with the second half of dough, but do NOT cut out a small shape in the center. You will end with 24 cut out circles and 24 whole circles.
- Bake the cookies for about 8-9 minutes or until the edges are browned. Let the cookies continue to cook on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes before moving to a wire cooling rack.
- When the cookies have finished cooling, fill them with pear butter. Place one of the rounds without a cut out with the bottom side facing up. Spread 1 tablespoon of jam over the cookie. Top the jam with a cut out round. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
- Dust the cookies with powdered sugar before serving.
- These cookies can be stored on the countertop for about 2-3 days or wrapped and frozen to enjoy later.
