Salted Caramel Christmas Linzer Cookies

These salted caramel Christmas linzer cookies are made with a buttery, almond flour shortbread cookie, a decadent caramel sauce, and a generous dusting of powdered sugar. They're the queen of simple, yet impressive. The dough truly is just as easy as any cutout cookie dough, but if you happen to make a few mistakes, no one will know because they'll be covered in powdered sugar! So no matter what, they'll look beautiful and taste absolutely delicious.

Author: Sloane’s Table

Meal Type: Peanuts Free

Cuisine: American

Difficulty: EASY

Prep. Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Servings: 25 cookies

Calories: 180 kcal per serving

Ingredients

2 cups - all-purpose flour
1 ⅛ cups - almond flour
1 tsp - cinnamon
¼ tsp - ginger
¼ tsp - cloves
¼ tsp - nutmeg
¼ tsp - allspice
¼ tsp - salt
1 cup - unsalted butter
¾ cup - granulated sugar
1 - egg
1 tsp - vanilla paste or extract
powdered sugar
½ cup - granulated sugar
¼ tsp - salt
⅛ tsp - cream of tartar
1 tbsp - water
3 tablespoons - unsalted butter
¼ cup - heavy cream
1 tsp - vanilla paste or extract

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, spices (optional), and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla to the butter, sugar mixture, and mix until fully combined.
Add the dry ingredients in two batches, mixing on low speed until everything is mostly combined.
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl and finish combining the dough.
Divide the dough in two, shape into disks, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least one hour or up to a few days.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface (or between two floured pieces of parchment paper), roll out one disk of dough to ¼" in thickness. Use a 2 ½" - 3" fluted round cutter and a small snowflake cutter. Cut out an even number of solid cookies and cookies with a snowflake cutout.
Place all cutout cookie dough in the freezer for 10 minutes. Place the scrap cookie dough back in the fridge for about 15 minutes before re-rolling.
Bake the frozen cutout cookies for about 10 minutes. Bake the small snowflakes for about 8 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet.
Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, salt, cream of tartar, and water.
Heat over medium high heat, swirling (not stirring) often to encourage even cooking. When it comes to a boil reduce heat to medium.
When the color turns an even medium amber color remove from heat and add the butter one tablespoon at a time, whisking to combine. Whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla.
Transfer to a glass jar to cool, then chill in the fridge overnight.
Pair the linzer cookies up and sprinkle powdered sugar on the top snowflake cutout cookies.
Spread a thin layer of caramel sauce on the bottom cookie, then place the paired cookie on top.
Sprinkle the caramel center with flaky sea salt and enjoy!

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