Yield: 8 servings

Recipe from Jacques Pepin

Circa 1988: I got this recipe at a cooking class I took with Jacques Pepin at “That Kitchen Place” in Amherst, NH. I’ve made it a few times and love the way it tastes.

Dough:

• 1¾cups flour
• 1cup ground almonds
• ¼cup granulated sugar
• 2sticks (8 oz) sweet butter, softened
• 3egg yolks
• ¼tsp powdered cinnamon
• ½tsp pure vanilla extract
• ¼tsp mace powder

Filling:

• 1½lb fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries
• -or-
• 112 oz jar quality raspberry preserves
• 1TBS raspberry brandy
• powdered sugar

For the dough:
Combine the flour and ground almonds on a work table and make a well. In the center, place the butter, cut in pieces, and the remaining ingredients. Start mixing with your fingertips. Gather the ingredients together. With the palm of your hand, smear the dough away from you, a piece at a time, in the technique called “fraser.” Gather the dough and repeat once more.

The dough will be very soft. Use a dough scraper to place it on a piece of waxed paper.

Set a 10-to-12-inch flan ring on a cookie sheet. Place about ¾ of the dough in the bottom of the ring and spread it out, using a piece of parchment or waxed paper to help spread. It should be about ¼-inch thick all over the bottom.

Roll some dough into strips and press inside to form the edges. Use the waxed paper again to thin the sides to about ¼ inch thick. Trim the excess dough.

If using fresh or frozen berries, puree and strain the berries. Place in a saucepan and cook down to thicken and intensify the taste to approximately ½ cup of puree. If using raspberry preserves, strain the preserves. Combine the puree or preserves with the raspberry brandy and spread the mixture on the bottom of the dough.

Roll leftover dough into thin cylinders. Flatten the cylinders into strips and arrange on top of the jam lattice-fashion–about four strips in each direction.

Fold the edges of the torte in toward the middle of the torte, on top of the jam and strips. Flatten gently with your fingertips. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 35 minutes, until nicely browned and crisp. Let rest at least 10 minutes, then remove the ring. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and clean the crumbs of dough from around the bottom edge.

Slide the Linzer torte onto a serving platter. Be careful as it is delicate and brittle. Serve in wedges at room temperature.