Spitzbuben

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rolling pin
• •Round cookie cutter, about 5cm
• •Small round or star cutter, about 1.5cm
• •Baking sheets
• •Wire rack
• •Fine sieve for icing sugar

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Mix the flour, ground almonds, sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt in a bowl. Rub in the cold butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, then add the yolks and lemon zest and press it together quickly. Work fast because Mürbeteig, short pastry, wants cold fat in small pieces; warm butter melts into the flour and gives you a tough biscuit instead of a crisp one.

2. 2

   Chill it flat

   Divide the dough in two, press each half into a flat disc, wrap it, and chill for at least 1 hour. Flat dough chills evenly and rolls without cracking at the edge. A round lump stays cold outside and soft inside, and then you fight it with extra flour. That flour dulls the butter taste.

   The dough can rest overnight. Let it sit on the counter for 5 minutes before rolling, just until it bends without breaking.
3. 3

   Roll and cut

   Roll one disc on a lightly floured board to about 3mm thick. Cut plain rounds from half the dough and window rounds from the other half, using the same cutter for the outside and a small cutter for the centre. Keep the tops and bottoms in equal numbers. If the dough softens, slide it onto a tray and chill it 10 minutes; cold edges bake clean, soft edges slump.

4. 4

   Bake pale

   Set the cookies on lined baking sheets and chill the trays while the oven heats to 180C. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are only lightly golden and the centres still pale. Don't chase brown colour here. Brown butter notes belong in Heidesand, not in Spitzbuben. These need delicacy and snap.

5. 5

   Sugar the tops

   Cool the cookies fully on a rack before you touch the jelly. Dust only the window tops with icing sugar while they are separate; dust after filling and you bury the red window, which is the whole little joke of the cookie.

6. 6

   Warm the jelly

   Warm the red currant jelly gently until it loosens, then stir it smooth. Don't boil it hard, or it turns sticky and dull. Spoon a little onto each plain bottom, leaving a narrow bare rim, then set the sugared window tops on and press just enough to bring the jelly to the edge.

7. 7

   Let them settle

   Leave the filled Spitzbuben uncovered for an hour so the jelly sets and the tops stop sliding. Then pack them in a tin with parchment between layers. They are crisp on day one and better on day two, when the butter and almond settle into the jelly. Weggeworfen wird nichts: the little cut-out centres bake as cook's biscuits.

Chef Tips

• •Use red currant jelly, not a thick jam with seeds. Jelly spreads thin, sets clear, and gives the sharp red window that makes a Spitzbub a Spitzbub.
• •Roll the dough between two sheets of baking parchment if your kitchen is warm. You use less flour that way, and less flour means a cleaner butter taste.
• •Bake the small centre cut-outs on their own tray. They brown faster than the full cookies, and they are the baker's payment.
• •Store them in a tin, not loose on a plate. The tin keeps the pastry crisp but lets the filled cookie settle; plastic traps moisture and softens the edges.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made 2 days ahead and kept wrapped in the refrigerator. Let it soften just enough to roll, then keep it cold again before baking.
• •The baked, unfilled cookies keep 1 week in a tin. Fill them 1 to 2 days before serving so the jelly settles without making the pastry dull.
• •Filled Spitzbuben keep about 2 weeks in a cool tin with parchment between layers. Hide the tin if you want any left by Christmas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 30g)