Chestnut flour, cinnamon and clove Linzer Cookies with Cranberry-Orange Jam are my Mediterranean twist on the classic European holiday cookie.
Festive Holiday Linzer Cookies
A favorite family Christmas Cookie, has long been the Linzer Cookie. Why? Because they encompass Christmas colors peeking through a window, and holiday essence and spices, better than any other cookie we can make.
Made with buttery chestnut flour dough and filled with homemade cranberry-orange jam scented with orange blossom, cloves, and cinnamon, these cookies are a celebration of flavor and tradition.
They’re tender, jewel-like, and beautifully balanced, a festive treat that brings together the charm of Austrian baking with the warmth of the Mediterranean.
Origin Of Linzer Cookies Sandwiches
Linzer Cookies were first derived from Austria, with almond flour in the cookie dough, and raspberry or current jam as the filling.
While these are delicious and traditional flavors, my taste buds most prefer the Christmas flavors of my Mediterranean heritage, fused with American products.
I have recreated these cookies to my liking, with flavors of chestnut meal and the autumn fruit filling of cranberries, known first to North America.
Such special flavors all wrapped into a memorable bite of Christmas traditions!
A Holiday Tradition – My Cranberry Orange Linzer Cookies
Every year when the air turns crisp and the first twinkle lights appear in shop windows, I know it’s time to bring out my well-worn Linzer cookie cutter set.
These delicate, jewel-like cookies have become a treasured part of my holiday baking tradition, and just the sight of them dusted with snowy powdered sugar brings me instant joy.
It started years ago, when I first tasted a Linzer cookie at a little European bakery during the holidays. Buttery, nutty, and filled with bright raspberry jam, it was love at first bite. I remember thinking, this is what Christmas should taste like! Ever since, the Linzer cookie has held a special place in my kitchen and my heart.
Holiday Cookies Are Universal
Each December, I line up my ingredients like old friends: finely ground chestnuts for that rich, aromatic base; soft butter that melts effortlessly into the dough; and a homemade batch of ruby-red cranberry jam waiting to peek through the little star-shaped window. As the cookies bake, their warm, buttery scent fills the house, mingling with pine and cinnamon from other corners of the kitchen.
When it’s time to assemble them, I always pause for a moment to appreciate their beauty, the way the jam gleams like stained glass between two golden, tender layers. A dusting of powdered sugar is the final touch, as though a light snowfall has landed right on my cookie tray.
Linzer Cookies Are More Than Just A Recipe
These cookies never fail to make people smile. I’ve shared them with neighbors, tucked them into gift boxes, and served them on platters for family gatherings. And each time someone bites into one, I see that same spark of delight I felt the first time I tasted one myself.
For me, Linzer cookies are more than just a recipe, they’re a ritual of joy, connection, and a little edible magic that reminds me what the holidays are all about.
Chestnut Flour for The Holidays
Sure you can easily make this recipe into more traditional hazelnut linzer cookies, but why would you when the holiday season is when we can get chestnuts easily at the grocery store!
Chestnuts are not the nut you will find most often in a cookie, but they should be because the flavor of a roasted chestnut is unlike any other nut we cook with.
Making chestnut flour for the holidays, or to store in your freezer for recipes later in the year, couldn’t be easier.
Either roast a batch of chestnuts, seemingly sold only around the holidays, shell and grind the nuts, or they can be found in many grocery stores already roasted and shelled.
However you obtain these coveted nuts of November and December, simply put them in the food processor and grind to a flour. Use immediately or bag and freeze for anytime.
Cranberry Orange Jam
Have you ever bought cranberry jam in the store? Me either! Why the heck someone isn’t making this fabulous berry into a jam, is beyond me.
Making my own cranberry jam for this Linzer holiday cookie treat is so easy, so I make it every year when cranberries are in season!
Simmer the cranberries along with orange juice, zest, sugar, cloves and cinnamon until they are soft and have absorbed the essence of the spices.
Remove the whole spices and drizzle a little Orange blossom in, puree, and the jam is ready! This jam makes for beautiful Christmas cookies, both in appearance and in flavor.
Cranberry Jam For The Holidays
It seems that cranberry linzer cookies aren’t made until December, but how about all those cranberries you will purchase for Thanksgiving?
You could easily set aside leftover cranberry sauce, and make it into cranberry jam for these beautiful cookie sandwiches in December.
Sure traditional raspberry linzer cookies are well known in Austria but here in America we have cranberries.
In my opinion a cranberry filling in these buttery linzer cookies, makes for a better cookie, especially since there are no raspberry seeds to contend with!
Cranberry Compote Or Jam
If you’re like me, and you’ve made way too much cranberry compote, simply because the moment fresh cranberries are in the market, we have to have several bags!
I’ve got another fabulous recipe for the leftover compote; Cranberry Orange Blossom Pie, with just as much holiday flavor as these cookies.
Another great use of the leftover cranberry compote is to make Cranberry Orange Blossom Muffins!
This recipe can also be found along with 51 other fabulous muffin recipes, in My Muffin Madness Cookbook!
Absolutely a must, after a long and rich holiday meal, is a light and refreshing Cranberry Orange Sorbet!
What Is A Linzer Cookie Cutter?
While a linzer cookie cutter is easily purchased from ‘you know where’ you can make a linzer without a specific linzer cookie cutter.
Simply use a cookie cutter of your desired shapes, with a smaller cookie cutter the same shape, to make a window in the center of the top cookie.
How To Assemble Linzer Cookies
The cookie dough has been baked, making certain to cut a decorative window in the top cookie before baking.
The cranberry jam has been simmered with warm spices and orange blossom water, cooled and pureed.
Now we simply schmear a little cranberry jam on the bottom cookie, place the cutout top cookie and dust with confectioners sugar.
A Sweet Holiday Moment
Every time I bake these cookies, I’m reminded that the true magic of the holidays isn’t in how perfect they look, but in the joy they bring. The soft hum of the mixer, the sparkle of zest on the counter, the scent of cranberries and spice filling the kitchen, these are the small, beautiful moments that make the season feel alive.
When I share these Chestnut Cranberry Linzer Cookies with friends and family, it feels like passing along a piece of my own story, one filled with flavor, memory, and a touch of Mediterranean sunshine. Whether you bake them to gift, to gather, or simply to savor with a cup of coffee, I hope they bring a little light and love into your home, just as they do mine.
About The Ingredients
- For The Cookie Dough
- Butter – The base of all good holiday baking, butter gives these cookies their tender crumb and melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Mascarpone or Cream Cheese – A luxurious touch that adds creaminess and depth to the dough, making the cookies soft yet rich.
- Sugar – Just enough to sweeten the dough and balance the tangy fruit filling.
- Chestnut Flour (or Almond Flour) – The heart of this recipe’s Mediterranean twist. Chestnut flour adds a delicate, earthy sweetness, while almond flour brings a light nuttiness if you prefer a milder flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour – Provides structure and keeps the cookies crisp at the edges.
- Orange Zest – Adds a bright, aromatic lift that ties the dough beautifully to the citrusy jam filling.
- Salt – A pinch sharpens every flavor, making the sweetness shine.
- For the Cranberry-Orange Filling:
- Fresh Cranberries – Their tartness creates a vivid contrast to the buttery cookie.
- Orange Juice and Zest – Layered citrus flavor that keeps the jam fresh and lively.
- Orange Blossom Water – A fragrant whisper of the Mediterranean, lending floral sweetness that’s both subtle and elegant.
- Sugar – Balances the cranberry’s natural tartness.
- Cloves and Cinnamon – A gentle spice duo that gives the filling warmth and depth, reminiscent of holiday evenings.Whole cranberries
- Confectioners sugar – For that light dusting of snow across the finished Linzer cookies.
Equipment Needed
- Baking sheet pan or 2 and Parchment paper for easy removal from the pans.
- Rolling pin to roll the dough to even thickness for all the cookies to be pressed.
- Cookie cutters – 1 large, 1 smaller or Linzer cookie cutter
- Sifter for the confectioners sugar which often has lumps.
- Tea infuser or spice infuser – these are great for small spices or larger herb leaves
- Food processor is my go-to for mixing dough quickly.
- Oven for baking the cookies, and the Stovetop for making the cranberry jam.
Cranberry Orange Jam Linzer Holiday Cookies
Equipment
- Baking sheet and parchment paper
- linzer cookie cutters
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- Cranberry Jam Filling
- 12 oz Whole Cranberries
- 1/2 cup Orange juice
- 1 tbsp Orange zest
- 1/2 tsp  Orange Blossom Water or Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Whole Cloves
- 1/4 Cinnamon Stick
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Cookie Ingredients
- 16 tbsp Unsalted Butter room temperature
- 8 oz Mascarpone or Cream cheese room temperature
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 3 tbsp Chestnut flour or ground almonds
- 3 1/2 cups All purpose flour more for dusting
- 1 tbsp Orange zest
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar final dusting
Instructions
- Cranberry Jam Instructions
- In a saucepan or small pot, over medium heat, combine cranberries, orange juice, orange zest and sugar. Place the whole cloves and 1/4 stick of cinnamon in a tea infuser and drop the infuser into the cranberry ingredients. Bring to a slow simmer. Simmer until the liquids reduce and the consistency thickens, about 15-minutes.Â
- With the back of a spoon, press the cranberries as they simmer to release their juices. Cool. Remove the spices in the infuser.Â
- With a hand mixer or immersion blender, on slow speed, whisk the cranberry mixture so that is it spreadable.Unused jam can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a week, or frozen.Â
- Cookie Dough Instructions
- In a separate bowl, combine flours, all purpose flour and nut flour, with salt, whisk together and set aside.Â
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor, place the butter, mascarpone, orange zest and sugar and cream butter enough to blend the sugar into the butter mixture.
- Slowly whisk in the flour mixture to form dough ball and is no longer sticky to the touch.Â
-  On a lightly floured surface, transfer the dough. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough enough to form a round disc. With a large section of plastic wrap, cover the dough completely and place in the fridge for about 20-minutes.Â
- Preheat the oven to 325. Place parchment paper onto a baking sheet or several baking sheets, as needed.Â
- Take the dough out of the fridge, on a floured work surface and roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness.Â
- Press out the shapes with a cookie cutter or a round glass. Then go back with a smaller cutter or smaller round glass, press out a window in the center of half of the cookies you have cut out. This will become the window for the top cookie where the jam can be seen through.Â
- Place cut cookies on prepared cookie sheet and bake until they just begin to change color, firm to the touch, but not brown. About 10-12 minutes. Cool.
- Assembly
- Spread the jam on the bottom cookies, in an even layer. Place the top cookie with the window, over the bottom cookie that now has jam. Lightly dust powdered sugar across the top of the cookies. Cookies are now ready to serve, or store in an airtight container in the fridge.Â
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Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.