These vegan Linzer cookies consist of raspberry jam sandwiched between 2 buttery vanilla almond shortbread cookies. Completely customizable from the fillings to the shape, they're the perfect vegan cookie for the holiday baking season.
Cut the vegan butter into small chunks and place it in a large bowl. Use an electric whisk or stand mixer to whisk the butter for 2 minutes. It will become light and airy. Add the caster sugar and vanilla extract and whisk for another minute to cream everything together.
To the bowl, add the flour, ground almonds, and sea salt. Use your fingertips to rub the flour into the butter mixture. Once the mixture resembles a crumb consistency, use your hands to knead the ingredients until they form a dough. Once you have a uniform dough ball, flatten it down into a disc shape and wrap it with cling film. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180°C (356°F). Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour and carefully roll out the dough to approximately 1cm in height. Use a 2.5" cookie cutter to cut out cookies and place them on the lined baking tray, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie. Use a smaller 1" cookie cutter to cut out the centers of half of the cookies. Make sure the cutout cookies are on a separate tray from the whole cookies as they will take less time to bake.
Bake the cutout cookies for 8 minutes and the full cookies for 10 minutes, then remove them from the oven and allow the cookies to sit on the baking tray to cool for about 5 minutes. Carefully slide the sheet of parchment paper with the cookies off of the tray and onto a cooling rack. Cool for another 15-20 minutes.
Dust the cutout cookies (which will be on top) with icing sugar. Add 1-2 teaspoons of jam to the center of each whole cookie and sandwich a cutout cookie on top of them.
Storage
Keep them in an airtight container and store them at room temperature. They will easily keep for a couple of weeks but are tastiest when enjoyed fresh within the first 3-4 days.
Notes
Lemon curd Linzer cookies: These cookies are also incredible when filled with vegan lemon curd.