Rachel Chin is a self-taught food photographer and recipe developer. She shared her recipe for Linzer cookies with us just in time for the holidays. She can be found on Instagram @thenerdiebaker.

Linzer Cookies

Makes 12 cookies:

1½ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
¹⁄ ³ cup powdered sugar, sifted
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp of vanilla bean paste
Strawberry jam (or any of your favorite jams)
Powdered sugar for dusting

1. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste at medium speed until light and fluffy.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt and mix well.

3. At the lowest speed of the mixer, gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix well until the flour is incorporated into
the butter.

4. Shape the dough into a ball, flatten it out and wrap it with a cling wrap. Refrigerate for about 2 hours or until the dough firms up so that it’s easier to roll out for later.

5. Once the dough is well chilled, preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to be about 1/8 inch thick. Use a 2 inch-sized cookie cutter to cut out 24 round cookies. Using a smaller cookie cutter (about ½ inch size and can be any shape), cut out the dough in the center from 12 of the cookies.

7. Gently place the cookies on the baking sheet. Bake them for about 10 minutes.

8. Remove from the oven and let them cool completely. The cookies will continue to set until they are completely cooled.

9. Dust some powdered sugar over the center-cut-out cookies. Add a tsp of jam to the solid cookie and sandwich it with the dusted cookie.