Of the many things my father loved to do, bake and listen to Mozart ranked very high. Whenever he had friends or family over to the house he loved to bake a special treat for them. He had an endless supply of Hungarian recipes that he would try. His success rate was about 70% and when the desserts were good, they were really wonderful. The 30% failure rate usually had to do with his not thinking he had to follow a baking recipe to the letter. “Why should I put salt in something that’s sweet” was something he firmly believed. I am still scared to glaze a dessert with egg whites. My sister will immediately know why. My father must not have beaten his egg whites enough and one time his linzer torte came out with the equivalent of an egg white omelet on top of it. We had to scrape the omelet off the top and eat it because it was a crime to waste food in our house.
My father got better and better with his baking and all of his friends loved to share his creations. My father particularly loved to bake with my sister and me. It was a nice time that we could spend together.
One year ago friday my father passed away. I was thinking of a way to spend the day remembering him. I decided to listen to Mozart and make a linzer torte. Linzer was one of his favorite recipes and he seemed to have a different recipe every time he made it.
Linzer Torte Recipe
3 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 generous T. baking powder
2 sticks of softened butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 c. sour cream (I felt like a bad Hungarian girl because I didn’t have any sour cream in the fridge)
1 grated lemon peel
juice from 1 lemon
jar of thick jam (raspberry, apricot or red currant)
1 1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts
1 egg white (please beat this well, or you will end up with the dreaded omelet on top)
Combine dry ingredients. Add butter. Combine and make a well in center.
Mix together the wet ingredients (except the egg white) and add to the flour mixture. Divide dough in 1/2. Press 1/2 the dough into the bottom of a 10×15 baking pan. Refrigerate both halves for an hour or overnight if desired.
Spread the jam onto the dough in the pan, making sure you don’t go all the way to the edge. It will burn if you do. I try and get as close as possible, because it can be a little bit dry otherwise.
Sprinkle the nuts over the jam.
Roll the remaining dough into ropes about 1/2″ in diameter. Think back to your preschool days when you would make snakes out of playdoh and you’ll get the idea.
I was running out of time and the dough wasn’t cooperating, so I rolled it out with a rolling pin and just cut strips. It worked really well, but next time I would try and roll the strip to make it a little rounder and more attractive. I also didn’t have time to make a nice woven lattice, but that would have been much prettier.
Once you have the top done, brush the egg white on top to make a nice glaze. Or you can skip this step if I’ve scared you.
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until the crust has a golden brown color.
