| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 55 min |
| Prep: | 40 min |
| Inactive: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 24 squares |
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnut pieces
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground clove
- Pinch fine salt
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, diced and slightly chilled
- 5 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- 1 cup cherry jam
- 1/2 lemon, zest finely grated
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 egg white, for brushing
Instructions
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
- Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.
- Butter a 9 by 12 1/2-inch baking sheet pan, then cover bottom with parchment paper.
- Pulse the walnuts with the sugar, in a food processor until fine and powdery, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, spices, and salt, pulsing until evenly combined. Add the butter, yolks, and brandy and pulse until the mixture starts to come together. Stop mixing and pull the dough together by hand, press and roll into a thick log about 8 inches long.
- Cut the log crosswise into 12 equal pieces. (If the dough is very sticky, refrigerate it until easier to work with, about 30 minutes.) Lay 8 pieces of the dough on the bottom of the pan. Press and spread the pieces together with your fingertips to cover the pan evenly.
- Stir the cherry jam, lemon zest and juice together in a bowl. Spread the mixture evenly over the surface of the dough with the back of a spoon.
- Roll the remaining dough out on a well-floured surface about 1/8-inch thick. Use a small decorative cutter, such as a leaf, tree, or star, to cut the dough into 24 pieces. Evenly place the pieces on top of the filling in 6 rows of 4. Alternatively cut the dough into long strips with a pizza wheel or knife, and place them on the filling in a lattice pattern; or cut the dough into ovals and lay them on the filling in a decorative pattern. Brush decorative layer of dough with egg white.
- Bake the squares until golden brown, about 40 to 45 minutes.
- Cool completely in the pan on a rack. Cut with a serrated knife into 2-inch squares.
- Copyright (c) 2004 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 24 servings |
| Calories | 208 |
| Total Fat | 10 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 26 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 13 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Cholesterol | 53 mg |
| Sodium | 15 mg |
Reviews
Fantastic Cookie! My husband loved this cookie! I used Cherry preserves. And for the cute topping what I did was add a little flour to the remaining dough and used a tiny cookie cutter in the shape of a bell. Delicious taste and wonderful to behold. Thank you so much for this recipie…it’s staying in my Christmas baking book.
Were easier to make than I initially thought. The dough was a little too soft for the lattice cutting, but overall not too bad. The kids loved them and they tasted great! Definitely a keeper!
Dough was very soft, almost impossible to cut into strips for the lattice. Fairly crumbly after cut into squares. Okay but not great, won’t make again.
My grandparents were Czechoslovakian-Prague area- and my dad said these are just like what grandma used to make. He said she would use cherry or apricot preserves. These were very tasty!
I was looking for a more holiday version of a jelly cookie and stumbled across these. The way the recipe was written was a little confusing for me but once I figured out how to assemble them everything was a breeze! I didn’t have any brandy on hand so used vanilla extract-a little sweet but still delicious. I also used raspberry preserves instead of cherry and I loved the flavor combination! Definitely a keeper, can’t wait to try them again with brandy 🙂
These cookies are delicious,even better after a few days. They taste very much like a Linzer Torte. I did not find it difficult to make them. My family loves them. I will certainly make them again.
At first I thought they’d be a bit on the sweet side, but the lemon cut that! Excellent cookie – a keeper! I had some dough left over and instead of tossing it, I made small plain cookies. I had small gingerbread & angel cutters and that added the perfect Holiday touch!
These cookies are great. They take a little time but the results are worth it. I change the preserves to make make a variety. They are great for the holidays or a treat for family and friends.
I made 6 different kinds of cookies for Christmas (all from FN.com), and these squares were by far the best. The cherry/lemon flavor was the perfect combination of sweet/tart. I have to admit that these were a bit labor-intensive, probably because I don’t have a full-size food processor. I only have one that can hold 2 cups. So, I pulsed the sugar and walnuts per the instructions, and then used a pastry blender to add the rest of the ingredients for the crust. The crust came out great and was easy to roll into a log and slice. I didn’t find the dough to be too sticky at all. I think I may have spread it thinner than the recipe called for, because mine only took about 30-35 minutes to bake. I did have a dough time cutting them with any knife–serrated or otherwise–because the cherry topping was very sticky. I think these cookies are more for adults than kids because they are a bit more sophisticated looking and tasting than your typical Christmas cookies. I MADE A TON OF COOKIES SO I COULD GIVE THEM AWAY TO FRIENDS, BUT I’M NOT GIVING ANY OF THESE AWAY BECAUSE THEY’RE SO DELICIOUS!!!! This recipe is a keeper that I will make for many holidays to come.