Orange Zest Gingerbread Linzer cookies
Each year it’s a tradition in my family household to make homemade gingerbread cookies with my close friends, and family. Baking cookies is the perfect holiday activity to spend some extra time, and bond with your loved ones during this festive season. I created a versatile gingerbread cookie recipe that you can enjoy on it’s own, if you aren’t a fan of jam style cookies. Or take them to the next level and turn them into gingerbread linzer cookies. These special cookies have notes of warm spices from the cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and zesty ginger. And bright pop orange from the marmalade jam and orange zest infused dough. My two favourite combinations are gingerbread and orange, so I thought these would be perfect!
Ingredient list
10 tbsp of unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses
1 large egg (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 + 1/2 cup all purpose flour (480g)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
1 + 1/2 tbsp grounded ginger
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp clove
3/4 tsp nutmeg
zest of 1 orange (1 tbsp)
marmalade jam of choice ( I used Bonne Mamam)
powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
In a medium bowl add flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove. Whisk together until combined leave aside.
Heat butter in a small pot until fully melted. Set aside until completely cooled.
Use a microplane to zest your orange until you reach the 1 tbsp mark. Take your 1/4 cup of granulated white sugar, and rub the zest with your fingers until fragrant to release the natural oils.
In a large bowl, add dark brown sugar, orange infused white sugar, and melted butter. Whisk until combined, followed by the remaining wet ingredients: vanilla egg, molasses.
Gradually add the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon until fully combined.
Split dough in half and flatten into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill dough in the fridge overnight.
The next day preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line your baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
With a heavily floured surface and rolling pin, roll out the disc of gingerbread dough until it’s 1/4 inch thick.
Start punching out desired shapes with cookie cutters. If you want to achieve linzer cookies, make sure you cut out two of the same shape.
Place the cut out gingerbread shapes onto your lined baking sheet. With one of the two halves of your cookies, use a smaller cutter to punch out the middle shape. Leave in the freezer 8-10 minutes
Place in the oven to bake for 9-12 minutes
let the cookies cool down on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer onto a cooling rack.
Match up your cookie shapes. The top of your linzer cookie should be the one with the punched out shape in the middle of the cookie, and the bottom one is plain.
Take your marmalade of choice, and apply a dollop of jam of the bottom portion of your linzer cookie. Dust the top part of your cookie with powdered sugar.
Stack the two cookies together to form a linzer cookie, and enjoy!
