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| Alternative names | Linzertorte, Linzer cookie, Linzer tart |
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| Type | Cake |
| Place of origin | Austria |
| Region or state | Linz |
| Main ingredients | Flour, unsaltedbutter,egg yolks, lemonzest,cinnamon, lemon juice, groundnuts (usuallyhazelnuts, orwalnuts oralmonds), redcurrantjam |
TheLinzer torte is a traditionalAustrian pastry, a form of shortbread topped with fruit preserves and sliced nuts with alattice design on top.[1] It is named after the city ofLinz,Austria.
Linzer torte is a very short, crumbly pastry made of flour, unsaltedbutter,egg yolks, lemonzest,cinnamon and lemon juice, and groundnuts, usuallyhazelnuts, but evenwalnuts oralmonds are used, covered with a filling ofredcurrant,raspberry, orapricotpreserves. Unlike mosttortes, it is typically single layered like apie ortart. 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, Czech, Swiss, German, and Tirolean traditions, often eaten atChristmas. Some North American bakeries offer Linzer torte as small tarts or as cookies.
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Linzer cookies (German:Linzer Augen, "Linzer eyes") orLinzer 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.
The Linzer torte is said to be the oldest cake ever to be named after a place.[2] For a long time, the recipe from 1696 in theVienna Stadt- und Landesbibliothek was the oldest one known. In 2005, however, Waltraud Faißner, the library director of theUpper Austrian Landesmuseum and author of the bookWie mann die Linzer Dortten macht ("How to make the Linzer Torte"), found an even olderVeronese recipe[clarification needed] from 1653 in Codex 35/31 in the archive ofAdmont Abbey.[2]
The invention of the Linzer torte is subject of numerous legends, claiming either a Viennese confectioner namedLinzer (as given byAlfred Polgar) or theFranconianpastry 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 toMilwaukee in the 1850s.[3]
Linzer torte is produced and sold by different suppliers in Austria and abroad. The Jindrak bakery, which produces over 100,000 Linzer Torte cakes a year,[4] is particularly well known. Liz Linzer Torte, which stands out with its eye-catching packaging with a blue and white diamond pattern, is internationally renowned and claims to have a particularly juicy taste.[5] Other suppliers of Linzer-style cakes and pastries include famous Viennese Kurkonditorei Oberlaa and the Ölz company. Linzer Torte is also produced and sold by various bakeries in Italy.[citation needed]
Notes
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
Media related toLinzer Torte at Wikimedia CommonsAuthority control databases: National |
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