TOP PICK: Linzer “Celebration Cookie”
| Some cities achieve fame through beauty (Paris), power (New York) or the ability to entertain (Las Vegas). The city of Linz, Austria is like Bialystock, Russia, home of the bialy (cousin to the bagel), Frankfurt, Germany, home of the slender sausage that achieved immortality when served on a roll,* and Pils, Czechoslovakia, which brewed a great style of beer (pilsner) to drink with it. Say the city’s name and what’s the first word association? The food named after it.
*At Coney Island, New York City, in 1871. See the History Of The Hot Dog. Linz gave us the Linzertorte (Linzer Torte is the English spelling), and gets additional honors, too: The Linzertorte is the oldest-known torte† recipe in the world. The earliest-found written version dates to a manuscript from 1653. This doesn’t mean that the torte did not exist prior to then, just that it is the first proof as to the approximate date and place of its origin. As with any item, it is likely to have developed some time prior to its first-known written record. |
 It’s a Linzertorte—no, it’s a jumbo cookie that looks like a cake, a 12″ circle cut into 12 triangular cookies. Impressive to serve, it tastes just heavenly. We can believe we ate the whole thing! |
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†As opposed to a cake, a torte replaces all or most of the flour in a typical recipe with ground nuts. Almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts are most often used. Over time, the exceedingly popular Linzertorte, an almond or hazelnut short crust filled with jam, was made into tartlets and cookies. And now, we can celebrate because Let Them Eat Cake, an artisan baker in New York City, has created a spectacular dessert or gift that’s delicious year-round, but perfect for the holidays. It looks like a beautiful, round cake, but has been pre-cut into 12 slices. The raspberry jam gleams through the heart-shaped cutouts, and the surface glistens with crystalline sanding sugar. For the dining table, buffet, workplace or picnic, the cookie can be eaten with a fork or with the fingers. Available in raspberry, apricot or chocolate filling, only a grinch would overlook this opportunity to celebrate. Read the full review on TheNibble.com. |
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