These healthy Linzer cookies are not only so adorable but they're made with way less amount of butter and uses honey as the cookies' sweetener. They're soft and tender with a hint of lemon to them. Not overly sweet and just perfect for when you want to show off your baking skills (nobody will know they're actually so easy to make!)
I love to make cookies, especially for the festive seasons! They make everything more fun and joyful, don't you think? Have you tried our readers' favourite, my healthy chocolate chip cookies or my healthy carrot cake cookies? They're delicious!
My late mother's classic pineapple-shaped tart cookies and her classic almond cookies are also amazing!
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Ingredients & Substitutions
Light spelt flour - I love using spelt flour! I switch from light to whole-grain spelt flour depending on the recipe. Since I want these cookies to look light, so I'm using light spelt flour (duh! haha!).
SUBSTITUTION: All-purpose flour is a substitution of 1:1 for spelt flour, so you can use that.
Almond flour - Adds flavour to our cookies! I'm using blanched almond flour to preserve the clean and light looks of the cookies. You can use unblanched almond flour with no problems. Just know your cookies will be slightly darker.
Honey - As the sweetener for our cookies. Not only that, it also gives that slightly chewy texture. Delicious!
SUBSTITUTION: You can use maple syrup, although it'll make the dough slightly stickier since it's runnier than honey. Add just a bit more spelt flour as needed and don't over do it (else you'll get hard cookies). The dough will be soft and slightly sticky but you can still form it into a ball without having your hands messy. Refer to my photo and video below for the consistency.
How To Make Healthy Linzer Cookies
- Mix spelt flour, almond flour, salt and cinnamon powder in a bowl, set aside.
- Cream butter and honey.
- Mix in egg, vanilla extract and lemon zest.
- Mix in dry ingredients.
- Wrap dough in a cling film and flatten it. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough, cut out the cookies, bake at 350ºF (175ºC) for 11-13 minutes.
- Dust the top cookies with powdered sugar.
- Assemble them by putting a dollop of jam on the base cookie and then place the top cookie, press lightly. Enjoy!
Tips For This Recipe
- Don't roll out the dough too thick to cut out the cookies. Remember, we're going to sandwich the cookies later, so we don't want to end up with such thick cookies at the end.
- Dust your working surface with some flour to help the dough from sticking to it.
- Don't over-bake the cookies because they'll taste hard like cardboard!
- To avoid messing the base cookies with powdered sugar, separate both the base and top cookies once they're baked and cooled. This way when you sprinkle the powdered sugar on the top cookies, the base ones won't be affected. *wink!*
- To make sure you always have the base and top cookies in pair amount, always alternate when you use the cookie cutters. Do the base, followed by the top, and repeat. Don't do several of the base (or top!) at one time.
- Don't put too much jam on the cookie base during assembling because when you place the cookie top and press it, the jam will start oozing out and it'll look messy.
How To Serve & Store
Serve - They're excellent for tea, gatherings, as gifts or when you want to impress somebody! I like to have them with plain milk, ohh so divine!
Store - Keep them in an air-tight container in the fridge up for 2 weeks (if you can refrain yourself that long!). Place parchment paper in between payers if you're going to stack them. Or freeze them up to 3 months. You can also freeze the dough, yeay! Press it into a flat disk, place it in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw dough in the fridge before rolling it out. Or freeze the cut-out cookies on parchment paper on a tray. Once frozen, place them in an air-tight container. Bake them a few minutes longer without thawing.
FAQs
Yes, definitely! I recommend baking them and then store in the fridge (or freezer!). Fill them with jam on the day of or even 2,3 days before. For related details, do refer to my storing tips above.
Since Linzer cookies have fruit jam, so I'd recommend you keep them in the fridge for safety reasons. I've had them in an air-tight container for 3,4 days at room temperature in winter and they were fine since it was cold. Use your common sense in this, alright?
I love raspberry jam! It has the right amount of tanginess and sweetness. But of course, you can use whatever jam of choice.
There are 2 reasons contributing to the cookies getting hard. 1) Over-mixing the cookie dough. Just mix the least possible. 2) Over-baking the cookies. Keep an eye on them, the bottom of the cookies should just barely be browned.
Watch The Recipe Video
📖 Recipe
Healthy Linzer Cookies
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cup light spelt flour
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup butter , room temperature
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 large egg , room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon
Others
- some confectioner sugar
- ¾ cup sugar-free raspberry jam , more or less
Equipment
- Portable oven thermometer , I use it all the time to get the accurate oven temperature
Instructions
Dry Ingredients
- Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl with a spoon, set aside.
Wet Ingredients
- Add butter and honey to the standing mixer bowl and using the flat beater attachment, mix until you get a creamy mixture. Add in egg, vanilla extract, and lemon zest, and give everything a quick mix.
- Now add in the dry ingredients mixture and mix just until everything comes together, don't over-mix the dough. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky. Wrap it in a cling film, and flatten it into a disk. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Cutting Out Cookies
- Dust your working surface and rolling pin with some flour. Roll out the dough to almost ¼ inch thickness. Cut out the cookies using the Linzer cookie cutters. Alternate the base and the top so that you always have a full pair.
- Using an offset spatula, place the cookies on parchment paper on a baking tray. They can be placed near each other as the cookies won't spread.
Bake
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF (175ºC), without the fan, on the lower ⅔ rack for 10-12 minutes. Don't overbake them as they'll end up being hard. The bottom of the cookies should just barely be brown.
Assemble
- Place all of the top cookies only on a rack/tray. Dust them with confectioner sugar.
- Put a dollop of jam on the base cookies and place the dusted top cookies on top, press lightly. Enjoy!
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