Do you have a favorite recipe that once you smell or taste it it immediately transports you to another place and time? For me that’s my mom’s linzer cookie recipe. One whiff of these incredible treats baking in the oven and I’m nine-years-old again, feeling the magic of childhood course through my veins.

It’s been a pretty cold and drab winter thus far, so we baked these together on an icy night to put a little love in our hearts.

My mother’s hands are not as youthful looking as they once were, but it amazes me every time she works the dough or mixes the ingredients together how strong and deft they still are. She sails around my kitchen as if she knows it inside and out taking command of our baking project with her expertise. I am lucky to have her! (And these cookies!)

Linzer Cookie Recipe

1 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp almond, vanilla or lemon extract

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups flour

Raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix butter, powdered sugar, flavoring and salt in a bowl; beat at medium speed until everything is well blended.

Cover and chill dough in a bowl in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.

Roll out dough on lightly floured pastry board or countertop to 1/4 thickness. Use cookie cutters to make designs, making sure to use a smaller cookie cutter for top cookie design.

Place in oven on lined cookie sheet for 8 minutes or until edges are slightly golden brown.

Allow to cool on wire cookie racks or cookie sheets.

Once cooled, spread raspberry jam on one cookie. Place another cookie with cut-out on top to make sandwich.

Enjoy!