Linzer torte

The Linzer torte is a traditional Austrian pastry, a form of shortcake topped with fruit preserves and sliced nuts with a lattice design on top.[1] It is named after the city of Linz, Austria.

Linzer torte
Alternative namesLinzertorte
TypeCake
Place of originAustria
Region or stateLinz
Main ingredientsFlour, unsalted butter, egg yolks, lemon zest, cinnamon, lemon juice, ground nuts (usually hazelnuts, or walnuts or almonds), redcurrant jam

Linzer torte is a very short, crumbly pastry made of flour, unsalted butter, egg yolks, lemon zest, cinnamon and lemon juice, and ground nuts, usually hazelnuts, but even walnuts or almonds are used, covered with a filling of redcurrant, raspberry, or apricot preserves. Unlike most tortes, it is typically single layered like a pie or tart. It is covered by a lattice of thin dough strips placed atop the fruit. The pastry is brushed with lightly beaten egg whites, baked, and garnished with nuts.

Linzer torte is a holiday treat in the Austrian, Hungarian, Swiss, German, and Tirolean traditions, often eaten at Christmas. Some North American bakeries offer Linzer torte as small tarts or as cookies

Linzer cookies (German: Linzer Augen, "Linzer eyes") or Linzer tarts are a sandwich cookie version, topped with a layer of dough with a characteristic circle shaped cut-out exposing the fruit preserves, and dusted with confectioner's sugar.

History

The Linzer torte is said to be the oldest cake ever to be named after a place.[2] For a long time a recipe from 1696 in the Vienna Stadt- und Landesbibliothek was the oldest one known. In 2005, however, Waltraud Faißner, the library director of the Upper Austrian Landesmuseum and author of the book Wie mann die Linzer Dortten macht ("How to make the Linzer Torte"), found an even older Veronese recipe from 1653 in Codex 35/31 in the archive of Admont Abbey.[2]

The invention of the Linzer torte is subject of numerous legends, claiming either a Viennese confectioner named Linzer (as given by Alfred Polgar) or the Franconian pastry chef Johann Konrad Vogel (1796–1883), who started mass production of the cake in Linz around 1823.

The Austrian migrant Franz Hölzlhuber claimed to have introduced the Linzer torte to Milwaukee in the 1850s.[3]

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References
  1. June Meyers Authentic Hungarian Heirloom Recipes Cookbook
  2. Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum. "Linzer Torte". Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum.
  3. "Franz Hölzlhuber's Watercolors". Archived from the original on 2007-12-29. In an odd sidenote: American Heritage [magazine], June 1965, attributes the introduction of Linzertortes (pastries filled with fruit, usually raspberries) to America to Franz Holzlhuber: "In 1856 Holzlhuber, an enterprising young Austrian from the vicinity of Linz, started for America. He had very little money but was equipped with a zither, a sketchbook, some education in the law and in draftsmanship, and the promise of employment in Milwaukee as conductor of an orchestra. Somewhere between New York and Wisconsin, he lost both his luggage and the letter confirming his job, which, it turned out, was no longer available. Nothing daunted, he went to work as a baker-introducing (so he said) the Linzer Torte to America..."

Further reading
  • Marshall Faye: Now that's a Linzertorte. Stowe, Vt. 2007, ISBN 978-0-9747872-0-6.
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