The Linzer Bar Story

Bar cookies are relatively straightforward to make and are akin to brownies. In fact, Nick's book lumps them together in the Bar cookie chapter. As I've been cooking along, I've started to feel that I could make a few types of cookies with my eyes almost closed. I've gotten a bit overconfident. Well my overconfidence bit me. I was ready to take on yet another Linzer-type cookie. This was the Viennese Linzer Square. I read the recipe and the dough is made with a food processor. Easy. So I put ingredients in the processor, processed, heated up the raspberry jam to liquefy it. Spread the dough, spread the jam, piped more dough on top, fought with the dough and put the whole thing in the oven. Something wasn't quite right. It wasn't baking right. My last foray into the Linzer tart world was frustrating and I really didn't want to repeat that scenario. Anyway, the pan baked on and something wasn't right.  Lo and behold I forgot one ingredient, the sugar! Sugar makes the dough spread in the pan and obviously gives the cookies their sweetness. Well, I had to make them all over again. Which meant I had to get more hazelnuts and more raspberry jam. The second batch's dough behaved so much differently than the first one. And baked differently too. The dough spread and had a much better aroma. So, my lesson is that haste makes waste and oh, what a waste.