Elizabeth Ho Shares Her Favorite Linzer Cookie Recipe

There’s a lot to like in regards to the artwork of baking, and one in all my favourite issues is discovering recipes that totally replicate the individual behind them. Anybody can bake a good cookie recipe, but it surely’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 way in which. 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 strategy to sweets and desserts is as stunning as it’s approachable, and the celebration of seasonal substances of their best type is an artwork that Elizabeth excels at.

Elizabeth Ho’s Favourite Linzer Cookie Recipe

We’re massive vacation cookie box followers over right here, and I’m stoked so as to add Elizabeth’s linzer cookie recipe to my gifting alternate this yr. Linzer cookies, particularly for the vacation season, really feel further particular. I shared this chocolate orange model final yr. And whereas the thought of sandwich cookies will 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 strategy 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 record.

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 muffins, alongside a small everchanging menu of pastries, for locals in Edmonton, Canada.

How would you describe your baking and meals philosophy?

I feel baking needs to be loving and emotional, but additionally sensible. I at all times create in a manner that feels nurturing, intimate and calming to me. Usually which means specializing in easy (and nostalgic) substances, 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 suppose it’s essential to profit from what surrounds you. I like the methods meals and pastry can deliver us nearer to the cycles of nature and of a season.

How did you develop this recipe?

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

I assumed in regards to the filling first, and that’s actually what makes this cookie. It’s a soothing shade of pastel—balanced, tangy, and means that you can use the winter citrus out there to you. I wish to strategy recipes by trying on the substances 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 traditional shortbread. It takes on flavoring nicely 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 comprise almond). The dough will be made prematurely and comes collectively in a pinch. Maybe most significantly, they appear 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 gotten is a glass cup, use the highest as a cookie cutter. For those who don’t have a sufficiently small cutter for the middle of the cookie, the back-end of a piping tip works simply as nicely. 

What standout substances make this recipe particular? 

Winter could be a melancholy time of yr—typically excruciatingly so for those who dwell in a colder local weather, like I do. Enjoying with shiny 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 will 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 nicely. 

I’m all about surprising taste pairings—or quite, weaving collectively easy substances, in a singular manner.

What ingredient swaps will 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 embody:

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 homemade). 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. Observe your baking coronary heart and instinct. These cookies don’t discriminate. 

What favourite baking hacks have you ever discovered through the years?

Fortunately this recipe is so easy, it doesn’t require any hacks. I do wish to make the dough just a few days prematurely, to avoid wasting time the day of. An excellent 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 reducing out the dough, you may retailer the cut-outs within the freezer (sealed in a ziplock or hermetic container, for as much as a month), to be baked whenever you want them. A little bit of time within the freezer earlier than baking helps the cookies keep their form as nicely. 

What recommendation would you share with newbie bakers?

Baking will not be about having all of the skilled gear, a superbly stocked pantry, or entry to specialty substances. It’s about discovering surprise and inspiration in simplicity, in your environment, in reminiscences, and utilizing that to create one thing nourishing.

Curiosity will be your largest power, and perfection is extra an thought 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 thought, of management. Possibly you didn’t discover quince on the market; select seasonal pears or apples as an alternative. Don’t really feel compelled to drive 20 minutes for orange blossom extract? Use just a few teaspoons of orange zest, or use a floral that’s thrilling and nostalgic to you. Something could be a start line for a recipe.

For those who present up, do your greatest, and don’t let imperfection or worry of failure be a deterrent, you’ll enhance each time. 

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

Each recipe is an extension of me—what strikes me, what evokes reminiscences of childhood, of my household’s heritage. It’s a passionate outlet, a private labor of affection, and it makes me comfortable figuring out others can get pleasure from or discover inspiration in it as nicely.

I hope individuals really feel a way of heat, ease, and connection whereas baking one in all 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 are able to predict sure components of the method, the result doesn’t need to be good 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 essential—to domesticate love, neighborhood, and presence. 

What cookies are in your dream cookie field?

Anything you’d wish to share?

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

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