Red Currant Cookies

From Oetker Baking is Fun. Use other jams than red currant if you wish. The number of cookies you end up with will depend on how thick or thin the dough is rolled out. In Switzerland these cookies would be called Spitzbuben

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Yields: 60-79 cookies

Ingredients

• 600  g flour
• 220  g sugar
• 18  g  vanilla sugar (2 packages)
• 4  egg yolks
• 400  g butter, cold

• Filling

• 150  ml  strained red currant jam or 150  ml marmalade

• Decoration

•  icing sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 f.
2. Grease a baking sheet.
3. Sift flour onto a pastry board and make a well in the centre.
4. Add sugar, vanilla sugar and egg yolks to well.
5. Mix a small amount of flour into the ingredients in the well to make a thick paste.
6. Cut cold butter into small pieces over the flour mixture.
7. Working quickly and starting from the centre, work all the ingredients together to make a smooth dough.
8. Chill dough for 1/2 hour.
9. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 3mm (1/8 ") thickness.
10. Cut into 5 cm (2 ") rounds.
11. Cut 3 small holes using a floured thimble, in half of the cut out rounds, or use a smaller cookie cutter to cut a hole in the centre (you can use linzer cookie cutters if you have them).
12. Place on prepared baking and bake on middle rack of oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.
13. Cool cookies.
14. Spread jam on the solid rounds and cover with the cut out rounds.
15. Dust with the icing sugar while the cookies are still warm (easiest way is to dip cut out cookie into icing sugar before placing on top of jam layer.