Elizabeth Ho Shares Her Favourite Linzer Cookie Recipe

There’s a lot to like in regards to the artwork of baking, and one among my favourite issues is discovering recipes that absolutely replicate the individual behind them. Anybody can bake cookie recipe, however it’s pure magic when a recipe can transport you straight into somebody’s kitchen. You’re proper there beside them strolling you thru every step—sharing secret suggestions and swapping tales alongside the best way. And that’s precisely how I felt when Elizabeth Ho from Birdhouse Bakeshop shared this vacation linzer cookie recipe.

The truth is, I instantly headed straight into the kitchen to make a batch for myself. Elizabeth’s method to sweets and desserts is as stunning as it’s approachable, and the celebration of seasonal components of their best kind is an artwork that Elizabeth excels at.

Elizabeth Ho’s Favourite Linzer Cookie Recipe

We’re huge vacation cookie field followers over right here, and I’m stoked so as to add Elizabeth’s linzer cookie recipe to my gifting trade this yr. Linzer cookies, particularly for the vacation season, really feel further particular. I shared this chocolate orange model final yr. And whereas the concept of sandwich cookies could be intimidating, when you get within the groove, you’ll impress everybody with the fanciful deal with that appears such as you’ve spent days baking.

Forward, Elizabeth shares her recipe with us and her method to baking with the great thing about the seasons. Plus, prepare for her scrumptious taste variations for these linzers, so there’s one thing for everybody in your checklist.

Elizabeth Ho

Proprietor of Birdhouse Bakeshop, Liz’s work is rooted within the magnificence that comes from high quality and ease. All the time flourished with seasonal blooms, her bakes are an outpouring of affection, reminiscence, and sharing of her Chinese language Malaysian heritage. In her little house kitchen, Liz spends her days creating ingenious truffles, alongside a small everchanging menu of pastries, for locals in Edmonton, Canada.

How would you describe your baking and meals philosophy?

I believe baking needs to be loving and emotional, but additionally sensible. I all the time create in a means that feels nurturing, intimate and calming to me. Usually meaning specializing in easy (and nostalgic) components, thoughtfully paired and ready. I would like my recipes to tie into one thing private—whether or not that’s reminiscence, household custom, or place. However I additionally assume it’s vital to benefit from what surrounds you. I like the methods meals and pastry can carry us nearer to the cycles of nature and of a season.

How did you develop this recipe?

I’m virtually all the time very impressed by transitions—in life, in temper, amid seasons. I wished a recipe that tailored simply to all these modifications. These cookies make it very simple to embrace my present cravings, environment, and what catches my eye on the farmer’s market or grocer.

I believed in regards to the filling first, and that’s actually what makes this cookie. It’s a soothing shade of pastel—balanced, tangy, and permits you to use the winter citrus accessible to you. I prefer to method recipes by wanting on the components in entrance of me and contemplating how they’ll intertwine, not solely in style however in shade and in palate. The buttery biscuit is a basic shortbread. It takes on flavoring effectively and pairs properly with any jam, curd, cream… no matter lights you up within the second. 

What makes this recipe your go-to for vacation baking?

These are versatile and nut-free (many conventional linzer cookies include almond). The dough could be made prematurely and comes collectively in a pinch. Maybe most significantly, they give the impression of being beautiful in a vacation cookie field!

What are your must-have kitchen instruments for this recipe?

This recipe doesn’t name for any fancy gear, however a mixer (handheld or stand) will turn out to be useful. Have you ever been ready all yr to make use of these darling cookie cutters? That is your second! If all you’ve is a glass cup, use the highest as a cookie cutter. In case you don’t have a sufficiently small cutter for the middle of the cookie, the back-end of a piping tip works simply as effectively. 

What standout components make this recipe particular? 

Winter is usually a melancholy time of yr—generally excruciatingly so in case you stay in a colder local weather, like I do. Taking part in with vivid and boldly-colored fruit helps! These cookies’ filling pulls from the pure abundance of winter’s produce. Citrus is well discovered, and any leftover filling could be eaten on toast, pancakes, cake, ice cream, or by the spoonful. The cardamom within the cookies provides a pleasant heat, however a teaspoon of coconut extract could be dreamy as effectively. 

I’m all about sudden taste pairings—or somewhat, weaving collectively easy components, in a novel means.

What ingredient swaps could be made on this recipe?

For the citrus curd, use no matter is on the market to you. Grapefruit, blood oranges, and Satsuma mandarins are my favourite. Some taste variations embrace:

Lavender & Strawberry. Exchange the cardamom and orange zest with two teaspoons dried culinary lavender rubbed into the sugar earlier than beating. Use your selection of strawberry jam, in lieu of the citrus curd.

Orange Blossom & Pistachio. Exchange the cardamom with ½ teaspoon orange blossom water/essence, and a spoonful of your favourite pistachio cream, or butter (store-bought or selfmade). Hazelnut works nice with the orange blossom, too. 

These are such an important vessel to your favourite spices, zests, extracts, fillings. So mess around with it! Apricot and anise, blueberry and black tea, coconut and dulce de leche. Comply with your baking coronary heart and instinct. These cookies don’t discriminate. 

What favourite baking hacks have you ever realized over time?

Fortunately this recipe is so easy, it doesn’t require any hacks. I do prefer to make the dough a number of days prematurely, to avoid wasting time the day of. relaxation within the fridge permits the flavour to develop too. Right here’s a tip: virtually any cookie dough will style higher after a 1-3 day relaxation within the fridge! 

After rolling and slicing out the dough, you’ll be able to retailer the cut-outs within the freezer (sealed in a ziplock or hermetic container, for as much as a month), to be baked once you want them. A little bit of time within the freezer earlier than baking helps the cookies preserve their form as effectively. 

What recommendation would you share with newbie bakers?

Baking shouldn’t be about having all of the skilled gear, a superbly stocked pantry, or entry to specialty components. It’s about discovering marvel and inspiration in simplicity, in your environment, in recollections, and utilizing that to create one thing nourishing.

Curiosity could be your greatest power, and perfection is extra an concept than a lifestyle.

For me, baking permits me to be formidable and open to prospects, but humble sufficient to know when to let go—of an concept, of management. Possibly you didn’t discover quince on the market; select seasonal pears or apples as a substitute. Don’t really feel compelled to drive 20 minutes for orange blossom extract? Use a number of teaspoons of orange zest, or use a floral that’s thrilling and nostalgic to you. Something is usually a start line for a recipe.

In case you present up, do your greatest, and don’t let imperfection or concern of failure be a deterrent, you’ll enhance each time. 

What’s the greatest a part of creating recipes to share for individuals to carry into their very own houses?

Each recipe is an extension of me—what strikes me, what evokes recollections of childhood, of my household’s heritage. It’s a passionate outlet, a private labor of affection, and it makes me completely satisfied understanding others can get pleasure from or discover inspiration in it as effectively.

I hope individuals really feel a way of heat, ease, and connection whereas baking one among my recipes. And I hope they really feel impressed to punctuate the recipes in their very own distinctive methods. Baking has taught me that whereas we will predict sure parts of the method, the result doesn’t must be excellent to be loved. Embrace that! There’s a consolation and a romance to it. 

And I hope in sharing these cookies, persons are reminded to cling tightly to what’s vital—to domesticate love, neighborhood, and presence. 

What cookies are in your dream cookie field?

Anything you’d prefer to share?

A number of issues which have my love and a spotlight proper now:

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