Linzer Torte

I have posted a lot of favorites lately, but this really is my number one favorite winter/Christmas time cake!
We’ve had this cake for Christmas for as long as I can remember. It is also said to be the oldest known cake to the world. I guess they got it right at the start! 🙂
It comes from Linz, Austria and that is where it got its name from. More traditionally it is made with hazelnuts, but my family likes to use almonds. That is how we always did it and my grandma too. Tradition is hard to brake. Traditional Linzer Torte also has a lattice design on top, like the one I made and is shown in the photos, or a diagonal one. Whatever your preference is, I say go with it! 
Also, I’ve heard of different marmalade used for it, but for me there is only apricot I would use. If you have another favorite, use that!
Linzer Torte
140 grams sugar  (3/4 cups)
140 grams flour (1 cup)
140 grams ground almonds (or hazelnuts)  (1 3/4 cups)
140 grams margarine or butter, room temperature (10 tbsp)
peel of 1 lemon
3 egg yolks
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
apricot marmalade
Preheat the oven to 350.
Mix butter with sugar, add egg yolks and then the mixed dried ingredients. Grease an 8 inch springform pan and for extra safety I cut out a round piece of greased cookie sheet and put on the bottom.
Reserve  a small piece of the dough for the lattice, about a fifth. Shape the rest of  your dough into a dish and put into the pan, shape with fingers so there is about a 1/4 inch  rim around, not too high.
Spread your marmalade on top, except the rim, make sure you don’t put too much or it will ooze over the lattice and it will not look pretty,  but you have to have a nice layer of it on. 
Now split your reserved dough into two equal pieces. Count on making 5 to 7  1/4 inch thick ‘snakes’ for your lattice in each direction. There will obviously be the longest middle one so reserve more dough for that one, then two shorter one and so on…for the end ones you will need very little dough, but you will see that as you go…I usually make my snakes first and put them on the side of the pan trying to gestimate where they will go to make sure they are pretty even and I have enough dough before I put them on marmalade. 
When I do the opposite direction of the lattice, I do everything the same, but when I am laying them down, I use my fingers to seal them a little bit where they are overlapping the bottom layer.
This is a crumbly dough and I find it way to difficult to try to overlap the dough into a real lattice one over the other…but if you want to try it I hope it works out, I would love to see a picture of it!
Before it goes into the oven, brush it with beaten egg. Bake for 20 minutes until nicely browned. Try not to over-bake it, I did it a couple of times and it goes from glorious to inedible in just a few minutes, keep an eye on it!
Merry Christmas! 

Sretan Božić!

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