Traditional Czech Christmas cookies: Linecké

Linecké or Linzer cookies are traditionally baked for Christmas by the Czechs. Among all kinds of Czech Christmas cookies, this one is my favorite with the gingerbread a close second.

Before I moved to the Czech Republic, I thought of myself as a capable and independent woman who can do anything, but that soon wavered when I realized what the women here can do. They can sew, cook, speak two languages at a minimum, drive around the city to pick up the kids from school while holding a corporate meeting on the speaker phone of their cars, and bake at least 10 kinds of cookies at Christmastime! I wonder what kind of super power they hold because until now I couldn’t go past two batches of cookies.

So this is my first batch. The recipe is from my mother in law which she probably inherited from Babička (grandma). I was told I can post it here so here goes. This recipe yields a lot of cookies like the photo below:

Ingredients:

600 g fine flour
200 g powdered sugar
400 g margarine (room temperature)
4 egg yolks

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven at 180°C.

2. Put all ingredients together on a wooden board and mix by hand. Knead until the dough forms into a ball.

3. Let the dough sit for at least half an hour. Flatten to about half a centimeter thick and cut with cookie cutters or into disks. Take note that the disks or shapes should be in pairs. Cut out the center of the other pair with a shape of your choice. In my case I just usually cut a small hole using a plastic pen cover or sometimes I don’t even bother. Heh.

4. Bake just until the cookies turn slightly brown.

5. Let cool. I usually leave them on a plate overnight and do the next step the next day.

6. Spread one pair with raspberry jam and cover with the other. My husband insists that the best jam to use is red currant but I disagree. I think it’s raspberry, period. 🙂