The Linzertorte which is one of Austria's most famous desserts is believed to have originated in the City of Linz, written recipes began to appear in the early 1700s. Traditionally this torte consisted of a crust made with flour, ground nuts (traditionally almonds), sugar, egg yolks, spices and lemon zest that was filled with preserves (traditionally black currant) and then topped with a lattice crust.
Linzer Cookies use the same ingredients as the Linzertorte but present them in a different way; that is, two cookies are sandwiched together with a layer of preserves or jam. Traditionally these cookies are filled with black currant preserves but as black currant preserves are hard to find in North America we usually fill them with a variety of different flavored preserves, most notably raspberry. The top cookie, dusted with confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, has a cutout so the preserves are visible.