Spitzbuben
Sweet and buttery almond shortbread cookies filled with red currant jelly and dusted with powdered sugar. They're beautifully elegant and taste divine!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups pastry flour , can substitute all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup fine almond flour
- 3/4 cup caster sugar (you can make your own by pulsing granulated sugar in a blender a few times for a finer grind)
- 1 packet vanilla sugar (= 2 teaspoons), can substitute 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 stick) butter , at room temperature
- 2 egg yolks
- finely grated zest of one lemon
- 1/2 cup red currant jelly , or raspberry jam
- OR homemade red currant jelly
- powered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Place the flour, almond flour, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter, egg yolks and lemon zest (and vanilla extract if using), and beat with a hand mixer until combined and it resembles a crumbly mixture. Use your hands to knead it into a smooth dough. If it's too dry add a little bit of milk. Form it into a ball, divide it in half, wrap each ball with plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours or overnight (or up to 3 days).
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Line two baking sheets.Take one dough ball out of the fridge (leaving the other in the fridge) and roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 4 mm (just under 1/4 inch). Use a small cookie cutter (about 6 cm or 2.5 inches) to cut out cookies. Knead the dough scraps back into a ball, roll it out and cut out more cookies. Repeat until the dough is used. Depending on the size of your cookie cutter you should have about 35 cookies. These will be the bottoms of the cookies. Transfer cookies onto a lined baking sheet, cover with plastic and place it in the refrigerator while you cut out the other ball of dough.Take the second ball of dough out of the fridge and repeat the process of rolling it out and cutting out approximately 35 cookies. This time use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out the center of each cookie. These will be the tops of the cookies. You should have an equal amount of each (tops and bottoms). Transfer them to a lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge, swapping it out for the first baking sheet.Remove the first baking sheet from the fridge and bake the cookies on the middle rack for 9-12 minutes until just barely beginning to brown on the edges. The cookies should still be light in color. Remove from the oven and bake the next batch. Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. In the meantime, bake the other sheet of cookies and then likewise let them cool.
- To assemble the cookies: Place the bottoms on a lined baking sheet. Use a teaspoon to place a dollop of red currant jelly in the center of each cookie bottom. Place the tops of the cookies on some parchment paper and generously dust the tops with powdered sugar. Place the tops on the bottoms, giving them a gentle twist to secure the cookies. Cover the assembled cookies loosely with plastic wrap and let them sit for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, to allow the cookies to "set". Then transfer them to a cookie tin. Spitzbuben will keep for 7-10 days at room temperature or 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Calories: 116kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 2gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 55mgPotassium: 37mgFiber: 1gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 156IUVitamin C: 0.4mgCalcium: 12mgIron: 0.5mg
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