Linzer Muffins

Linzer Muffins Recipe #2



Years ago, my husband and I, along with our then 4 month old daughter visited family in Switzerland. One of the desserts very lovingly made for our visit was a Linzer Torte. I remember being surprised by the almond and jam combination and pleased that it was not cloying sweet. These muffins are little copies of their namesake but in muffin form. Pretty nifty! I particularly enjoyed the fresh lemon zest flavor combined with my homemade jam tucked in the center.

• The recipe has you first toast the whole almonds then grind them along with the sugar and lemon zest in the food processor. I was pretty thrilled that I did not first burn the almonds, as that is my habit.


• Then the dry ingredients of flour, the ground almonds,baking powder, salt and cinnamon are whisked together in a large bowl.


• I then whisked together milk, butter, egg, and almond extract in a small bowl, then stirred this wet mixture into the dry ingredients.


• Next, I pulled out a muffin pan, ( actually I pulled out 3 or 4 looking for one that was not rusted, dented or pitted. I need new muffin tins.) and filled each about 3/4 full. For me this only made 10 muffins rather than 12. I suppose I over filled them, but in the end they were just right. They were nicely rounded and did not over flow.


• I then took a spoon full of jam and buried each spoonful in the center of the muffin. As they baked some of the jam oozed out the top but none hit the bottom of the muffin. Success! Well controlled jam filled muffins.


• I gave each a little dusting of powdered sugar and served them to guest for Sunday breakfast.

Result: Wonderful, warm and enough "ohhs and ahhs" to make this recipe worth doing again. I made one change and used my homemade mixed berry jam although the recipe called for raspberry. My jam is just better, sorry.