Vegan Gluten-Free Linzer Cookies
These pretty linzer cookies are lightly crunchy and so easy to make! Gluten-Fee and vegan so go ahead and share them with everyone at the holiday party.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 34 minutes
- Yield: approximately 30 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter, at room temperature / softened (not melted)
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 ¼ cups of Pamela’s Artisan Flour Blend (or make your own gluten-free flour mix by combining: 1 cup brown rice flour, ¾ cup tapioca starch, ½ cup sweet rice flour, ½ tsp guar gum)
- 5 tbsp fruit-sweetened or refined sugar-free jam of your choice (I recommend the classics: raspberry or apricot)
- Optional: some powdered coconut milk for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Have your linzer cookie cutters (these are the kind I use) handy, and prepare a rolling area with two additional sheets of parchment paper for that.
- Place butter in a large mixing bowl and whip it with a mixer until it's creamy. Add sweetener, salt, and vanilla and mix once again to combine. Add in flour and use a wooden spoon to mix. Then get in there with your hands and mix everything together by working the dough with your hands until you can shape it into a ball (note: dough should not be sticky but should press together when pinched -- if it's a little sticky, add a little more flour, but be sure to knead it well first). Divide dough and shape into 2 balls, then flatten each into a disk.
- Roll out one of the dough disks in between two sheets of parchment paper (always rolling away from yourself) into a ¼" thickness. Cut out the cookies using a cookie cutter, cutting half of them with the plain cutter, and half with the center shape cutter (so that you end up with an equal amount of bottom and top layer cookies). Carefully transfer to a prepared cookie sheets, spacing them ½" apart (they won't spread as they bake). Gather up any dough scraps and repeat until all dough is used up. Then repeat the process with the other dough disk.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for approximately 13-14 minutes, until the edges begin to become a little golden. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. (Note: cookies will harden a little within minutes of cooling, so don't overbake). Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes.
- If dusting with coconut milk powder or powdered sugar, place all the center cut shaped cookies on a wire rack (ideally lined with parchment or a large plate underneath). Dust with the milk or sugar until you're satisfied with how they look.
- Take the regular shaped cookies (the bottoms) and flip them upside-down. Place ½ tsp jam in the middle of each cookie (don't be tempted to over-jam, as it will end up spilling from the sides later -- ½ tsp goes a long way!). Cover with the dusted cut out cookies on top and enjoy :) Store at room temperature in an air-tight container.
Notes
*For the jam, if you're looking for a refined sugar-free option, you can try some fruit-sweetened store bought versions, like this St. Dalfour jam for example. Or alternatively, can use something like this easy homemade raspberry or blueberry jam.