Linzer cookies

The Linzer's dough preparation is simple, fast, and lots of cakes and pies can be based. The classic Hungarian version's shape like flowers, one of which has the center hole. Linzer usually is filled with homemade jam.
This cookie is very popular in Hungary.

Linzer dough:

3 units of flour
2 units of unsalted butter (or margarine for lactose intolerants)
1 unit powdered sugar
1 yolk
pinch of salt

Preparation:
1. Crumble the flour and the soft butter.
2. Add the salt, sugar, yolk and knead them.
3. Rest the dough for half an hour. Then stretch and shape it.
4. Preheat the oven to 350-380 F (180-200 C). Bake the linzers for 8-10 minutes. Let it cold.

For example 20-25 double linzers are made:
300g flour, 200g butter, 100g caster sugar, 1 egg yolk.
Instead of third of the flour you can add several kind of ground seeds: nuts, almonds, poppy seeds, pecan etc.

The fresh linzers are crisp, but if you fill them with jam or ganache they will be crumbly the next day.

You can bake from this dough several cookies: base of creamy or fruity pies, Xmas cookies etc.

Hungarian recipe is in a Büfé (The Buffet).

cookies

1

Gingerbread - Traditional Hungarian Christmas honey cookie

We bake gingerbread every year with my children when the Xmas is approaching. This is a festive and traditional biscuit in our country and gingerbread making's tradition goes back for centuries. Ginger is totally omitted from Hungarian gingerbread. Literally this is a honey biscuit with cinnamon and cloves.
Usually there are two types of gingerbread: Ornate version and eating version.
The xmastree is usually decorated with the ornate version which is not as soft as the eating version.
The eating version is not decorated (but you could)) If the gingerbreads are not so soft then requires a speciel method to make it soft:
Put gingerbread in a metal box whenever you cook it. A few days before Christmas peel an apple. Put apple cloves on a piece of aluminium foil but do not cover them. Put the apple cloves in the box between the cookies. This way on Xmas Day they will be soft.

Ingredients:
350 g all-porpouse flour
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
80-100 g icing sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
120 g honey
50 g unsalted butter
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda

Preparation:

1. Mix he flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves in a bowl.
2. Melt the butter and the honey together to about 50 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit). Add honey and egg and egg-yolk to the dry ingredients. Mix well, knead it with a spoon (or in the food processor, it is better). Take care, the dough is sticky.
3. Let it stand for half an hour.
4. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 Celsius (350 F).
5. Take the dough and knead it.
6. Stretch the dough and sprinkle flour under and over it. Thickness: 2-3 mm.
7. Cut the dough out into various shapes ( using favourite cutters). Place them on greasy paper/foil (or without them).
8. Put them into the ovenpan and bake them until golden brown. (8-10 minutes).
9. Let it cool. Put them into a box.

Decorate the gingerbreads with white icing when cooled down.

1 egg white
120-150 g icing sugar
few drops of vinegar (or lemon juice)

Beat the egg whit for 2-3 minutes with mixer, add the vinegar and beat again until it will be very hard (about 4-5 minutes). Add 1 tbsp powdered sugar and mix, then add remaining sugar gradually. Mix them well. Put white icing into nylon pouch. Cut a tiny hole of the pouch's coign. Decorate the gingerbreads. Leave them on the table until the icing is dry (about 2-3 hours), and put them into a metalbox.

My son is 9 years old. These gingerbreads are his first works:

cookies

4

Lemon-caraway seed cookies

Ingredients: for 35 pieces150 g sugar
65 g butter
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 coffespoon ground caraway seeds
1 coffespoon baking soda
pinch of salt
150 g flour

Preparation:

1. Mix the flour, salt, soda and caraway seeds.
2. Beat the yolk and sugar until becomes white foam.
3. Add the butter too and mix them.
4. Add the flour and lemon to the mixture gradually.
5. Knead with hand gently until mixture forms a smooth ball.
6. Form a roller of the dough, thickness: 3 cm.
7. Freeze it for 1 hour.
8. Preheat the oven to 170 Celsius (340 F).
9. Slice the roller about 7 mm cookie rounds and put them on the baking sheet.
10. Bake on the center shelf of the oven for 8-10 minutes.
11. Transfer cookies with a cake shovel to a wire rack to cool.

cookies

2

Salty cheese prisms

Salty cheese sticks




Ingredients:
300g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
150g butter
100g cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon sour cream
1/2 teaspoon 6% vinegar

Preparation:
1. Measure flour.
2. Add salt, soda, soft butter, rasped cheese and vinegar.
3. Add sour cream and the egg too. Knead together.
4. Spread to a rectangular shape. Thickness: 1 cm. Cut off the edges with knife.
5. Freeze it for about half an hour.
6. Take it out of the freezer, grease with an egg, strew with the grated cheese.
7. Slice prisms: width 1cm length 5-6 cm. Put them on a baking pan.
8. Bake prisms in the oven (200 Celsius) for about 10-15 minutes.

cookies

0