If you’ve never attended a tea party, it’s safe to say you’ve never lived. Serving as the last beacon of class in our Kardashian-obsessed age, the tea party is a fundamental reminder of the simple things in life.

Recently, against all odds, the culture of tea parties has made a resurgence; emerging in downtowns across the nation, tea shops have returned with a vengeance. The traditional pillars of sophistication have remained, giving hope to our era. Paired with the linzer tart, the most elegant cookie of all, the custom is here to stay. Long may she reign!

You will need:

4 sticks of butter

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

6 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 bottle of Smucker’s seedless raspberry jam

Linzer Cookie Cutter

Powdered sugar in a shaker

Roller

1. After preheating the oven to 350, take room temperature butter (I heated mine in the microwave for about a minute) and cream it with the sugar in a large bowl. I recommend using a mixer, to really mix together the two ingredients and expedite the process. After these two ingredients are thoroughly mixed together, go ahead and add in the eggs and vanilla.

2. Now it’s time to move onto the dry ingredients. While most recipes, including this one, recommend separating dry and wet ingredients into two bowls only to combine at the end, I think this is just a hassle, so I went ahead and put the flour, baking powder, and salt directly into the original mixture and stirred. Because of the large amount of flour, it’s important to stir with a spoon before mixing, so that the flour doesn’t explode in your kitchen. After the flour has been somewhat incorporated, you can go ahead and use the mixer again.

3. Once everything is well mixed together, form the dough into a ball and cover. Put away the bowl in the fridge and wait about 30-45 minutes.

4.Take out the dough. After wiping down some counter space with a wet paper towel, begin to knead the dough piece by piece. After kneading a piece, place it on the counter to be rolled out to about ¼ inch thick.

5. Using the linzer cookies cutter, cut out the bottom and top pieces. Remember to have the same amount of both, so as not to waste dough. I recommend rotating the baking sheets between top and bottom, to have approximately the same amount of each. Bake for 6 minutes.

6. After the cookies have cooled, take top pieces and place them on a separate surface where they can be sprinkled with powdered sugar, and spread raspberry jam over the respective bottom pieces. Put together and you’ve got a classic. I recommend leaving the cookies to sit for a few hours to let the jam solidify. Enjoy!

By Ashleigh Atasoy

What are your favorite types of cookies?