These Farmer Cheese Linzer Cookies are a sweet, irresistible love letter to your gut. ❤️ A creamy blend of Lifeway Farmer Cheese and fresh raspberries nestles between two soft pistachio cookies, delivering a balance of probiotics and prebiotic fiber to support your microbiome. Plus, Farmer Cheese is an excellent source of protein and a good source of calcium, adding nourishment without compromising the mouthwatering flavor Linzer cookies are known for.
Cultured Dairy: The Nutrition Benefits You Need to Know
With increasing research linking the correlation between probiotics, gut health, and immunity, it’s no secret that the integrity of our gut is vital to our health. Although additional factors such as stress, antibiotic usage, and individual health conditions can contribute to the condition of our gut, a focus on healthy food choices is one of the easiest ways to support the microbiome.
Several studies have shown a strong association between the gut-brain-microbiota. Probiotics introduced to the gut have been found to support immunity, improve allergies, and improve digestion.
Studies have shown that reduced diversity of healthy gut bacteria during early years is associated with an increase in food allergies during school-age years. In addition, kefir made from whole milk helps absorb key nutrients such as Vitamins A, D, E, and K. Vitamin K is important because it helps your bones absorb calcium. It’s important to know that kefir contains a unique trio: vitamin D, K, and calcium – all three crucial elements to support bone health. Lifeway Farmer Cheese is also a great source of all these nutrients, just in a different format for all the cheese lovers out there.
Prep Time: 4-8 hours Servings: 12-24Ingredients
For Filling:
- 4 cups of raspberries
- 1/4 cup Farmer Cheese
- 1/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tbsp. hot water
- Salt
- Water as needed
For the Cookies:
- 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 1/2 cup + 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- 2 tbsp. whisked egg
- powdered sugar for dusting
Directions
- Start with the cookie base: Grate pistachios in a food processor until finely chopped. Stir together pistachios and flour and set aside.
- In an electric mixer (or hand mixer), beat together butter, sugar, vanilla bean until they are light and fluffy. Add in the whisked eggs and mix until combined.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients in two batches until the dough comes together.
- Take the dough and form it into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight.
- For the filling: In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, cook down the raspberries and sugar until it becomes liquified.
- Mix together hot water and cornstarch and add it to the blueberry mixture.
- Add in salt and more water if needed to keep it as a jam consistency.
- Remove from the heat and add it to a food processor or blender along with the Farmer Cheese and blend until smooth. Put the filling in a jar and refrigerate until cookies are done baking.
- To assemble the cookies: Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 325 degrees, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Divide the dough in half and roll out about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out the cookies in a shaped cookie cutter. Half of the cookies, cut out a heart in the middle. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges start to turn slightly golden.
- Once the cookies are cooled, spread the raspberry jam on the bottom halves (those without a heart cut). Dust the tops of the cookies (with the heart cut out) with powdered sugar and carefully add on top of the raspberry jam cookies. Enjoy!
