Czechmatediary

Christmas is just around the corner and I figured I would post some Christmas recipes a little earlier (click here for more Christmas recipes) so that everyone has enough time to practice. This time I am going to show you how to make the most delicious Christmas cookies called Linecka kolecka (or some call them Linecke kolacky).They taste heavenly (I am serious) and are quite easy to make once you get the hang of it. Couple of things you need to be aware of, however: 1/ they are VERY fattening 2/the dough is made mostly of butter (hence the warning no.1) so if it becomes too soft it is almost impossible to work with (the solution to the problem is listed bellow). So roll up your sleeves and let’s go!

LINECKA KOLECKA (LINZ TARTS)

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) of soft, unsalted butter
• 2/3 (5 oz) cup of sugar
• 1 Tsp of grated lemon rind
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 and 1/4 cups (18 oz) of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (6 oz) or raspberry, strawberry or red currant jelly
• 1/4 (2 oz) of powdered sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven for 325 F
2. In a big bowl, mix in the butter, sugar, lemon grind, vanilla extract and egg yolks.
3. Slowly mix in the 1 and 3/4 cups of  flour
4. Work the mixture into a dough and place it in the fridge for about 2 hours (or overnight)
5. Pull the dough out of the fridge and let it stand in the room temperature for a while until it is workable (about 1 hour)
6. The hardest part: Roll out the dough onto a floured surface until it is about 1/4 inch thick (coat the pin with flour as well; as you are rolling out the dough, keep sprinkling it with a little bit of flour at the time to prevent sticking)
7. Use cookie cutters (circle-shaped ones are the most authentic) to cut out the cookies and in half of them cut out a smaller circle in the center.
8. Transfer the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet (use spatula for the transfer if necessary) and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (see step 1 bellow)
9. Once the cookies have cooled down spread half o them with jelly (see Step 2 bellow)
10. Sprinkle the cookies “holed” cookies (i.e. cookies with holes) with with powdered sugar
11. Put those powdered cookies on top of the jellied cookies (see Step 3 bellow)
12. And you are done! Now taste the heaven….

My finished batch of Linecke kolacky

Some Important Tips:

- once the dough is rested enough to work with, move QUICKLY! The dough is made mostly out of butter so it basically starts to “melt away” if it gets too warm (i.e. it is impossible to cut out those cookie shapes).

- once in the oven, keep checking on the cookies - they burn quickly (I found out from a personal experience - you can see the burnt ones on the picture above)

- if you don’t have the smaller circle-shaped cookie cutter to make those little holes in the middle of a cookie, don’t worry about it; they taste great hole-less as well! I did not have them either so I tried to use a lid from a vitamin bottle but that didn’t turn out so good…

- if you find out that your dough has gotten too soft and it is hard for you to cut out those cookies, work the dough sheet into a ball again, put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes and start over

- rolling out the dough is the hardest part because it keeps sticking to things. I found that sprinkling a little bit of flour here and there and working it into the  dough helps the consistency of it.

Step one: naked Linecke kolacky

Step 2: Jellied Linecke Kolacky

Step 3: Finished Linecke Kolacky