These were made by Aisa and was part of our Christmas cookie lineup. I started making this cookie in 1994 when Aisa was just 3 — 12 years later she’s making it herself and doing a darn good job of it if I may say so myself. The recipe is from the Gourmet December 1994 issue. Thought Epicurious.com would have it on their website but no.
The German Drei Augen and the Swiss Spitzbuebe are very similar, except that recipes for Drei Augen — meaning three eyes — call for three little holes to be punched on the top cookie. Spitzbuebe — meaning bad boys — can be made with any shape hole on top. However, the Gourmet recipe for Spitzbuebe, which we include here, instructs you to make the three holes, so for years I had thought that spitzbuebe = drei augen. They’re similar, but not exactly the same.
DREI AUGEN / SPITZBUEBE (Jam-Filled Shortbread Sandwich Cookies)
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar plus additional for dusting cookies
2 large egg yolks
2 1/3 cups bleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
In a bowl with an electric mixer beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar, beating until combined well. Add yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour over butter mixture and fold in thoroughly.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and press into a 10-inch square, about 1/2 inch thick. Chill dough until firm, about 2 hours. Dough may be made 4 days ahead and chilled.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Keeping remaining dough chilled, lightly flour 1 piece of dough and on a lightly floured surface gently pound with a rolling pin to soften. Roll out dough into an 8-inch square, about 3/16 inch thick. With 1 1 3/4- to 2-inch round cutter cut out cookies, chilling scraps, and arrange about 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. make more cookies in same manner with remaining 3 pieces of dough and with scraps, pressed together. With a 3/8-inch plain pastry tip cut out 3 small holes in half of cookies (these will be tops), leaving remaining half of cookies whole (these will be bottoms).
Put cookies in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake cookies, switching positions of sheets in oven halfway through baking, 20 minutes, or until pale golden and firm, and cool on sheets on racks. Lightly dust cookie tops with additional sugar and arrange cookie bottoms upside down on a work surface.
In a small saucepan heat jam over low heat until thickened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread about 1/4 teaspoon jam onto each cookie bottom and arrange a cookie top over it to form a sandwich. Transfer remaining jam to a small resealable plastic bag and snip a small hole in one corner. Squeeze a drop of jam into each opening in cookie tops and let stand until dry. Keep cookies frozen between layers of wax paper or parchment paper in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. Makes about 36 cookies.
from Gourmet Magazine, December 1994
Recent Comments