Engelsaugen

Engelsaugen belong in the Advent tin, where the pale butter cookies sit beside Vanillekipferl, Zimtsterne, and whatever the family insists must be baked first. In much of Germany they're Engelsaugen, angel eyes; in the south and in Austria you'll hear Husarenkrapfen, hussar cookies. Same table, different name. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders.

I make them from Mürbeteig, short pastry, with more butter than patience and just enough egg yolk to hold it. The hollow is the whole craft. Press too deep and the cookie cracks open; press too shallow and the jelly slides off like it was never invited. The dough must be cold because cold butter holds the wall of the hollow in the oven. Warm dough spreads, and then you've made a flat biscuit with a red puddle. Das braucht seine Zeit.

Red currant jelly is the cleanest filling because its acid cuts the butter and it sets glossy as it bakes. Raspberry is welcome. Apricot belongs more to the southern Husarenkrapfen side of the argument. Use a proper jelly or strain your jam. Nicht aus dem Glas is for sauce, not for common sense; here the point is no lumpy fruit pieces, because they tear the hollow and scorch before the pastry is done.

Bake them pale at the edge, not brown. These are Plätzchen, Christmas cookies, not rusks. Let them cool before they go into the tin, then leave them a day. The butter settles, the jelly firms, and the cookie eats cleaner than it did off the rack. Schön ist, was schmeckt.