Fudge Gingerbread Linzer Cookies

Christmas was a few days ago and these Fudge Gingerbread Linzer Cookies were a part of my Christmas cookie box.

Now let me show you my Christmas Cookie box.

Click here to check out the cookie box I made 1 year later (2019)!

I made 8 varieties of cookies for my Christmas Cookie Platter this year.

These were my Christmas Cookies:

🍪Gingerbread Linzer with fudge filling
🍪Almond Toffee Shortbread dipped in white chocolate
🍪Alfajores with dulce de leche
🍪Pecan Pie Cookies
🍪Sugar Cookie Truffles
🍪Chocolate Pecan Macarons
🍪Christmas Marshmallows
🍪Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

If you ask me my favorite, they were the Sugar Cookie Truffles, actually. Here I have a recipe for them, I just used different sprinkles, to make it a Christmas Cookie Truffle, and I also used candy coating on the outside instead of white chocolate. I had used the original Sugar Cookie Truffles in that recipe to make my Birthday Cupcakes and my Birthday Sprinkles Cake.

If you follow me on instagram, you could probably see my 2 year old son Luke and I making our Christmas Cookies together on my Highlights.

Anyway, I made these Fudge Gingerbread Linzer Cookies because a little while ago, I had made these delicious Nutella Gingerbread Cupcakes, which were topped with little Nutella Gingerbread Cookie Sandwiches. I loved that cookie so much I decided to incorporate a version of it somehow in my Christmas Cookies line up.

Basically, this is a very simple recipe. It doesn’t take much time to make the fudge, or the gingerbread cookie dough. Most of the time will be spent rolling the cookie out and baking it.

A few tips on baking these gingerbread linzer cookies, make sure to bake your cookies as they are cold from the fridge. If your kitchen is hot and it’s taking you a long time to roll out your cookies, and your dough is just sitting out there, your butter will become too soft. Just the act of rolling out the dough itself will contribute to softening the butter in the cookie dough.

So my biggest tip to get cookies that have a nice shape, and don’t shrink or get wrinkly, is to bake the cookies cold.

I often place my tray of cookies in the freezer as I pre-heat the oven, to make sure my cookies will be cold.

Linzer cookies are some of my favorites. Cause they look so cute with the filling exposed like that.

And in the case of these Fudge Gingerbread Linzer Cookies, the fudge filling will be solid enough, once you refrigerate the cookies, to make possible to stack the cookies without them sticking to each other.

So, I know Christmas is done, but maybe you can save this recipe for next year, or make it anytime you crave for gingerbread, which might not be only around Christmas time, and why should it be, right?

I hope you have a great day. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog.

Fudge Gingerbread Linzer Cookies

These Gingerbread cookies are filled with fudge, topped with powdered sugar. Perfect for Christmas baking season.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 30 cookies

Calories 60 kcal

Ingredients

  

Gingerbread Cookies

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter room temperature 73 grams, 2.6 oz
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 100 grams 3.5 oz
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Hot Fudge Sauce

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 30 grams 1 oz
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup honey or light corn syrup if you will
• 1/3 cup brown sugar 66 grams 2.3 oz
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder 20 grams 0.7 oz
• 1 cup chopped dark chocolate or semi-sweet whatever you prefer (170 grams, 6 oz)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

 

Gingerbread Cookies

• Whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream butter for about 1 minute. Add sugar and cream for another 2 minutes.
• Add molasses and mix until combined.
• Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
• Now, add all dry ingredients.
• Mix with a spatula until incorporated.
• Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
• Remove from the fridge. Cut into 4 pieces.
• Roll one piece out at a time on a floured surface until about 1/8” thick. Cut into the shape of your choice. If you want to make linzer cookies, simply cut a hole in the middle of half of the cookies, as you are cutting out your shapes.
• Place cut out cookies in a baking tray.
• Pre-heat oven to 350 and place tray in the freezer while the oven pre-heats.
• This will ensure that the cookies are cold, and the butter will be in a solid state and won’t start to melt as soon as it enters the oven.
• And it will give the gluten formation a chance to establish its structure before the fat melts.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes, flipping in between if necessary.

Fudge Sauce

• Mix all ingredients except for the chopped chocolate, and vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium heat.
• Simmer on low for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove form the heat, add chocolate and stir until melted together.
• Add vanilla.
• Let it cool down to room temperature before using. It can’t be too cold, or too hot. It needs to be just at room temperature.

To assemble

• Put all the top cookies (the ones with a hole on top) on a baking sheet and dust powdered sugar all over them. Set aside.
• Pipe a dollop of fudge filling in the middle of a whole cookie. Place powdered sugar cookie on top.

Storage

• Cookies will keep well at room temperature, very well packaged for 3 days. I kept mine in the fridge and they were still good on day 4 and 5.

Keyword cookies, gingerbread