An Austrian specialty, the Linzer torte, is a delicious dessert with an almondy latticework crust filled with raspberry jam. This dessert has been baked in its home city of Linz, Austria for over 300 years, but those outside of Austria might actually be more familiar with the Linzer cookie, the original tart's bite-sized cousin.

Linzer cookies, AKA Linzer "eyes" because of their cutout shapes that let the jam filling peek through, use the same ingredients as the famous torte, but add a dusting of powdered sugar. It's possible that they were first created by bakers who wanted to test their recipes for Linzer tortes by baking smaller biscuit versions.

Cookies originated in the 7th century for this exact purpose of testing recipes, making this a probable origin for Linzer cookies. What we do know for sure is that couple Johann Konrad Vogel and Katherine Kress popularized the biscuits in the city of Linz, then globally, and Austrian immigrants later brought Linzer "eyes" to America.