Nutella Linzer Heart Cookies

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Aphrodisiacs aren’t the only way to bring the romance into the kitchen. Create a symbol of your sugary affection in the form of a cookie with a heart-shaped treat. Pastry Chef Brian Grabowski of Explorateur puts a lovey-dovey spin on the traditional Linzer dessert by cutting the dough into adorable cordiform cut-outs and swapping in Nutella instead of jam. It’s the cutest way to finish off your meal (editor’s note: if you need a main entree, check out last week’s recipe) — plus, they’re really fun (and easy!) to make.

Details

Yields: 12 sandwich cookies

Ingredients

  • 5 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 6 ounces toasted and ground almonds (almond flour works also)
  • 2 eggs
  • Nutella
  • Confectioners sugar

Directions

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the ground almonds and eggs, one at a time, and cream together, scraping the bowl as needed to incorporate completely. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients slowly and mix until just combined.
  3. Remove the dough from the bowl and flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
  4. On a well floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter (I use a 2”), cut as many hearts out as you can.
  5. Now, using a smaller heart cutter (I use a 1”), cut out the center of half of the hearts.
  6. Bake the cookies in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden.
  7. Once cooled, spread Nutella on the face of the cookies without the center cut out. Dust the cut out cookies with confectioners sugar if desired.
  8. Place the cut out cookies on top of the Nutella coated cookies, creating a sandwich.

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