Pardon the unassuming photograph and let me assure you that these cookies are delicious. They're both gluten and nut-free, and a great way to highlight the unique earthy flavour of buckwheat. I added orange zest and rum, which I feel is a great extra touch. You can use any jam that's dark and not too chunky, and vary the size and shape of the cookies to your taste.
The gluten free flours result in an extremely tender and delicate cookie, a bit more rustic than the traditional linzer cookie but in a very good way. It's the kind of cookie you can imagine forest fairies or something of the like eating with tea.
I think that the dough is also improved by the cream cheese, adding a touch of tang and also more tenderness. Because there isn't any gluten, there's no concern about overworking the dough, making these surprisingly easy to make.
While mine weren't very pretty, working with colder dough (I rushed the refrigeration step) will yield cleaner cuts and nicer-looking cookies- but the important thing is that they're delicious. Take care not to overbake the cookies, though; they are brown to begin with, so it can be tricky to tell when they're done.
Buckwheat Linzer Cookies
Slightly Adapted From Flavour Flours, by Alice Medrich
70 g. Buckwheat flour
65 g. Oat flour
55 g. White rice flour ( I used Thai white rice flour)
170 g. Butter
100 g. Sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking soda
70 g. Cream cheese
1 TBSP Rum (or water)
Zest of one orange
Blackberry, raspberry or red/black currant jam, about 1/2 C.
Preheat oven to 170℃.
Sift together the flours, salt and baking soda. Separately, beat together the sugar, cream cheese, butter and orange zest. Add the dry ingredients and rum/water. Knead to form a homogeneous mass and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Roll out between sheets of baking parchment and cut with a circular cookie cutter or glass. You can also form a large, thick log of dough prior to refrigeration and then use a wire or very sharp knife to cut circular slices, but then you will need to make sure the dough is very firm.
Cut out smaller shapes in half of the circles (I used a flower cookie cutter) and bake on a parchment-lined pan for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on the pan.
Spread the cookies without cut-outs with your jam of choice and top with the other half. Dust with powder sugar if desired.
