By David Tanis
- Total Time
- 2 hours, plus time for chilling
- Rating
- 5(214)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This version of Linzer torte, a classic Viennese pastry, has a dough with a high proportion of ground hazelnuts and almonds. It is usually filled with a raspberry or apricot jam, but cranberries make it a perfect Thanksgiving dessert. The secret to rolling a dough made with nuts is to keep chilling it if it becomes difficult to handle. Linzer torte keeps up to a week if well-wrapped, and also freezes well, before or after baking.
Featured in: A Linzer Torte Fit for Thanksgiving
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:10 to 12 servings
- 12ounces/340 grams cranberries
- 2cups/450 grams sugar
- Zest of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 orange, plus water to equal ¾ cup/220 milliliters
- Pinch of salt
- ¾cup/120 grams whole hazelnuts
- ¾cup/120 grams whole almonds
- 1¾cups/270 grams unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 14tablespoons/198 grams unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
- ¾cup/160 grams sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛teaspoon ground cloves
- 1¼teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½teaspoon baking powder
- ¼teaspoon salt
- Powdered sugar, optional
For the Filling
For the Dough
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
569 calories; 25 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 83 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 59 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 87 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
Make the Filling
Step
1
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Lower heat to a brisk simmer and stir frequently, until cranberries burst. Continue cooking, mashing fruit a bit with the back of a spoon, until thick as jam, about 30 minutes. Set aside. (Filling may be prepared in advance.)
Step
2
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place hazelnuts and almonds on a baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes, until well browned. Rub skins off hazelnuts while still warm, discarding skins. Cool nuts, then grind finely in a food processor, adding 3 tablespoons of flour to keep them from becoming oily. (Nuts should have the texture of coarse cornmeal.) Set aside.
Make the Dough
Step
3
In the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment, combine butter, sugar, and lemon and orange zest. Beat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
Step
4
In a separate bowl, mix together ground nuts, the rest of the flour, cloves, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture in three parts, mixing each time until it forms a slightly sticky dough.
Step
5
Divide dough into two pieces, one slightly bigger. Form larger piece into a ball, wrap and flatten to a 1-inch thickness. Form smaller piece into a rough rectangle, wrap and flatten to a 1-inch thickness about 4 by 5 inches. Chill 3 to 4 hours, or overnight.
Step
6
Heat oven to 350. Butter and flour an 11-inch fluted French tart pan. Remove dough from refrigerator and let stand for 10 minutes. On floured parchment paper, roll the larger piece of dough into a 12-inch circle, dusting the top with flour as necessary. If dough is difficult to handle, chill again. Pat evenly into pan until sides and bottom are completely lined with dough about ⅛-inch thick. Refrigerate or freeze tart shell until firm.
Step
7
Roll out smaller piece of dough on floured parchment paper to rectangle about 10 by 12 inches and ⅛-inch thick. Cut into strips about ¾ inch by 12 inches. Transfer parchment to a tray and refrigerate or freeze until firm.
Make the Torte
Step
8
Spread cranberry jam evenly into shell. Lay strips across top in a lattice pattern. Form remaining dough scraps into a rope ½ inch in diameter and use it to encircle outer edge of tart. Score diagonally with the handle of a spoon or flute with fingers to make a border.
Step
9
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until jam is bubbling and pastry is lightly browned. Let cool, and dust with powdered sugar if desired. Serve in small wedges.
Ratings
5
out of 5
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
A Boston Cook
I made this mostly as written but with a few shortcuts -- I bought ground almond and hazelnuts and used 1 cup of each (no kitchen scale but figured out from various websites). That worked well. I also make it in a rectangular pan, and I didn't do any rolling. To me, Linzertorte is like shortbread dough so I patted it into the pan, slathered with jam and rolled thin, lattice-like dough strips to criss-cross on it.It came out delicious with a lot less work.
Elizabeth Uppenbrink
I have made this every Thanksgiving since David Tanis put the recipe in the Times. It is actually a pretty simple recipe if you remember to start ahead of time. I basically follow the recipe with a few changes. I use almond or hazelnut flour instead of roasting and grinding whole nuts, it saves time and comes out just as well. I have also made this gluten-free just by substituting a gluten-free flour blend, and the recipe works really well that way! Thank you David Tanis!!
Emily
I will try again. I'm comfortable working with pastry dough but found this very difficult to handle. Keeping it cold helps, but I was tempted to use a piping bag for the lattice. A good dusting of powdered sugar did spruce it up aesthetically.
I stopped grinding the nuts at a cornmeal texture, but the crust ended up quite mealy. I will go for a finer grind next time, and hope this creates a more delicate texture.
Flavor of crust was delicious. Works beautifully to sub in fine rasp jam.
Rachel
The crust was delicious, but the cranberry filling was a bit flat. I would have liked more orange flavor and to cook it slightly less. Also the grams/cups measurements for the sugar are not in agreement - most sources say 1 cup - 200 grams. I split the difference at 210, but lack of sweetness was not the problem. I didn't find the dough difficult to work with, but I make a lot of pastry. I made thumbprint cookies with apricot jam with the leftover crust dough, and they were incredible.
Jerri
This torte is so good that I am making it for two more holiday dinners. Instead of using water, I added about 1/2 cup of tawny port. I’ve also used ruby port.If the cranberries are too soupy, I just cooked them down to the right consistency.With any leftover dough I made cookies with a thumb print of berry jam.YUM!
Aimee
Couldn’t find hazelnuts, so ended up using an equivalent weight of almond flour that I toasted before using. The dough really is quite fussy to work with—if it’s soft enough to be pliable, it tears easily, and it really is only strong enough not to require careful handling if it is nearly frozen solid. I wound up going with decorative cutouts instead of a lattice, and used my extra dough and filling to make cookies. The end result is good, but I likely won’t make it again.
Catherine
I loved this recipe, but made some modifications. I used almond flour and toasted hazelnuts. I doubled the jam because I thought that as written there was too much crust. I wanted a little bit of whole cranberry in the jam, so I cooked about half of them for the full 30 minutes, then the second half for fifteen. Then I used a 9x13" pan for a nice bar cookie. As a bar cookie, this made a great addition to a holiday cookie mix.
Delia
I also skipped the rolling of the dough, but did use the tart pan. I used almond flour and walnuts, neither were toasted. It all worked really well. The best thing was the plum jam we put up last summer. Any good tart jam will work nicely.
andra
Followed the recipe religiously, except for the chilling. I cut that down to 20-30 min and ended up flattening the dough by hand in the form. Wasn’t as sticky as one would have thought. Turned out fine but from a flavor profile perspective, I’m not sure the extra work on making the cranberry jam and nut flour from scratch paid dividends.
Poltergeister
Try almond flour and hazelnut 5/8 cupFlour 1/2 spelt 1/2 white.
Maina
Linzer Torte is NOT a Viennese pastry but a Linzer pastry, as the name implies :)
A Boston Cook
I made this mostly as written but with a few shortcuts -- I bought ground almond and hazelnuts and used 1 cup of each (no kitchen scale but figured out from various websites). That worked well. I also make it in a rectangular pan, and I didn't do any rolling. To me, Linzertorte is like shortbread dough so I patted it into the pan, slathered with jam and rolled thin, lattice-like dough strips to criss-cross on it.It came out delicious with a lot less work.
Whireluonlady
I made this for a dinner party last night for 12. This is good not great. Not worth the time and effort. If you are looking for show stopper dessert this isn’t it.
Cameron
In Australia, you cannot buy fresh cranberries anywhere! I therefore used equal thirds craisins, fresh cherries, and fresh raspberries for the filling. It made a delicious jam, which was much more balanced than cranberries alone. The pastry is beautifully scented with the citrus. Fussy to make - as all fresh pastry is, but worth it.
Sissy
I live in New England and we have been making cranberry pie for over a century. You just put it in a regular pie crust. My grandmother would just take about two bags worth of cranberries, cut them in half, mix with sugar to taste, (I use about a cup and half) a spoonful or two of flour or cornstarch, put in crust and bake. I have added ground cloves and cinnamon, and you can substitute some marmalade for some of the sugar.
Elizabeth Uppenbrink
I have made this every Thanksgiving since David Tanis put the recipe in the Times. It is actually a pretty simple recipe if you remember to start ahead of time. I basically follow the recipe with a few changes. I use almond or hazelnut flour instead of roasting and grinding whole nuts, it saves time and comes out just as well. I have also made this gluten-free just by substituting a gluten-free flour blend, and the recipe works really well that way! Thank you David Tanis!!
Joleen
Would it work to use a nut flour blend rather than grind your own nuts?
Emily
I will try again. I'm comfortable working with pastry dough but found this very difficult to handle. Keeping it cold helps, but I was tempted to use a piping bag for the lattice. A good dusting of powdered sugar did spruce it up aesthetically.
I stopped grinding the nuts at a cornmeal texture, but the crust ended up quite mealy. I will go for a finer grind next time, and hope this creates a more delicate texture.
Flavor of crust was delicious. Works beautifully to sub in fine rasp jam.
Tom
I used a mix of cranberries and 500 grams of apples and reduced sugar to 1/4 cup. Tart but good.
Private notes are only visible to you.
