Linzer Torte

Linz is a city in Austria after which this pastry is named. The crumbly pastry contains ground hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds, and spices such as cinnamon and ground cloves. Because of these spices it is a holiday classic in the Austrian tradition. The filling is made of redcurrant jam, plum butter, thick raspberry, or apricot jam. The characteristic feature of this pastry is the lattice (criss-cross) design on top of the pastry.

In North American bakeries Linzer Torte is often made like small tarts or cookies. These cookies are also known as Linzer sablés (German: Linzer Augen, "Linzer eyes"). The bottom part of the pastry is a circle, which is covered with jam. A circle of the same size as the bottom, but with a hole in the middle, so that the jam shows through (forming the eye) is placed. Lastly, the cookie is dusted with confectioner's sugar. You find Linzer Augen in almost ever German bakery.

Ingredients:

a springform (26 cm / 9 inches in diameter) or a Pyrex form (9x13 inches)
baking spray or grease

For the pastry dough:
200 g wheat flour (250 g when using a stick of butter)
1 leveled teaspoon baking powder
100 g sugar (113 g with a stick of butter)
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
1 pinch of ground cloves
1 leveled teaspoon ground cinnamon
100 g butter (or one stick butter = 113 g)
100 g ground almond flour (113 g for a stick of butter)
1 egg
1 egg white

For the filling:
100 g raspberry (or plum or apricot) jam

For the topping:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon milk

Preparation:
1. In a bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add all remaining ingredients for the pastry dough. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer, knead first on lowest, then on highest setting until a dough has formed. Shape dough into a ball with your hands, but don't knead it (see comments below). Wrap dough pastry in clear plastic foil and refrigerate for at least 30 min.
2. Grease the bottom of the springform or Pyrex form. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).
3. On a slightly floured surface roll out one half of the pastry dough. Put the bottom of the springform on top (greased side facing up), and cut the rolled pastry dough along the outside of the springform bottom. You should have a large circle of pastry dough of the size of your springform bottom. Using a pastry wheel cut the pastry dough into 16-20 strips.
4. Take the remaining half of the pastry dough and roll out on the greased bottom of the springform. Fix the springform ring around the bottom.
5. Add the jam on top of the bottom dough crust leaving about 1 cm or 1/2 inch space to the edge of the pan. Now take the pastry dough strips and layer them on top of the jam in a criss-cross pattern.
6. Mix the egg yolk with milk and brush on top of the cake layers and edges. This will help to bond the different layers, and gives the cake a nice glaze and color.
7. Bake in lower third in preheated oven for 30 min.
8. Remove edge of springform, loosen Linzer Torte from springform bottom, and let fully cool on the springform bottom.

Comments:
1. Because I know some people who are allergic to eggs I didn't use any eggs in this recipe. Instead, I used about three tablespoons of half-and-half in the pastry dough, and also used half-and-half to brush the cake's top.
2. Don't extensively knead the dough with your hands! This pastry dough is delicate, and the warmth of your hands will cause the pastry dough to crumble (we say that it "burns" the pastry dough), so minimize the time you work the dough with your hands. This becomes less of an issue if no eggs are added to the pastry dough, and is another reason why I prefer to leave out the eggs.
3. I don't have a pastry wheel, so I used a pizza cutter instead. The pastry wheel has a ridged edge, which makes the strips look very delicate, but the flat edge of the pizza cutter also work. One can also cut strips using a knife if no pastry wheel or pizza cutter is available; the wheel or pizza cutter just make it easy to cut even strips.