Art of Gluten-Free Baking
(http://artofglutenfreebaking.com)
Adapted from Perfect One Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers, by Pam Anderson
Giant Linzer Cookie, Gluten-Free
Special Equipment Needed
-a stand mixer is very helpful, although a hand mixer is fine
-large cookie sheets or 12″ round pizza pans
-one 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter (optional)
Ingredients
2 1/2 C Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C (2 sticks; 16 oz; 230g) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
1 C ((200g) granulated sugar
1/2 C jam (raspberry or apricot are very nice here)
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat your butter until creamy–about 2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar–beat for another 2 minutes. Add the eggs, beat for about a minute–until fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat until just combined. Add flour and salt mixture, mix on low speed until the dough forms.
Remove 1/2 C of dough and reserve it for separate use (like smaller cookies for later). Divide remaining dough into 2 fairly equal parts. At this point you can follow 1 of 2 methods. The first method (the one recommended in the book) is to press the each 1/2 portion of dough into a 12 inch pizza pan. This will give you the most matching of halves. The other method, the one I used (because I don’t have 2 12″ pizza pan) is to roll each 1/2 portion of dough into roughtly the same-sized 12 inch rounds. You can see from my photo that my two halves were not exactly matched. But that’s OK–this cookie is delicious no matter what. If you want to, use your cookie cutter to cut a hole in the middle of 1 of the rounds of dough. This will give your giant cookie a cute look with a jam-filled holed in the middle. I don’t do this, but it doesn’t affect the taste!
Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes–until the cookies look firm and are golden brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool for about 2 minutes–until firm but still a bit pliable. Carefully transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Up to a few hours before serving, microwave your jam for about 30 seconds–until it is slightly melted and easy to spread. Spread over the flat side of 1 of the cookie rounds. Carefully and gently place the other round, mounded side up, on top of the jam-covered cookie. Dust with sifted confectioner’s sugar.
Cut into wedges with a pizza cutter (yes, a pizza cutter works fine) or a large knife.
Enjoy!