Spitzbuben (Swiss Jam Cookies)
photo by A2471
- Ready In:
- 1hr 8mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Yields:
-
24-36 cookies
ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1⁄4 cups butter (or margarine)
- 2 1⁄4 cups ground blanched almonds (may be called almond meal at the store)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring
- 3 1⁄4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- fruit jam (flavor of your choice, but make sure there are no fruit chunks in it)
- confectioners' sugar
- white of 1 egg
directions
- Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the almond meal and vanilla flavouring and the white of 1 egg.
- Add the flour and knead until smooth.
- Chill dough in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat over to 325 degrees.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured cutting board to the thickness of 1/8"-1/4" (the thinner the dough, the better the cookie).
- Cut with small round, star, or diamond-shaped cookie cutters.
- Use a smaller cookie cutter to cut a "window" in half the cookies (these will be the top of the cookie sandwiches).
- Place all the cookies on lightly buttered and floured cookie sheets.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden.
- Remove cookies from the baking sheet and let cool.
- Spread the cookies without a "window" with fruit jam.
- Coat the cookies with "windows" in confectioners' sugar, and then place on top of the cookies with fruit jam.
Reviews
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I made these as Christmas gifts for my family of Swiss ancestry last year, as a fun reminder of where we come from! I was slightly concerned about my ability to pull off a sandwich cookie, but oh my word these came out amazing and were not nearly as difficult as I was afraid they would be. They were just beautiful. I used red current jam without seeds. I gave them as gifts inside of pretty little brown paper boxes with Swiss flag stampings on the outside of the packaging and tied with twine. I heard over and over again from my family after they had a chance to try them that these were incredibly good! Even from family who don't normally indulge too much in cookies. I don't keep a lot of cookies at home, but wish I saved more of these for us! They were even better after a day or two - slightly less crisp and the whole cookie felt well settled into itself. Gorgeous flavor.
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I'm made many different kinds of cookies in my time, but I'm sure this was a new experience for me, AND a very enjoyable one, at that! I was so pleased with myself that I was tempted to keep them all here for the 2 of us, but broke down & sent 2/3 of them off with my other half to share at one of my weekly meetings! I did have a small problem with the jam, since I usually think of it as 'chunky,' but with a little processing, I managed to have a strawberry jam that worked for me! Thanks for posting this wonderful recipe ~ Your cookies are a real delight! [Made & reviewed for one of my adopted chefs in this Spring's Pick A Chef event]