Window Pane Cookies

If you happened to see the post about our eggnog party, you might have wondered what those lovely, glossy, delightful cookies were up front....

They go by various names, jelly cookies, spitzbuben (their "real" name), or window pane cookies when we make this version with our square cookie cutters.  The original recipe, which is swiss or german in origin, used a butter cookie dough, but we usually add some ground hazlenuts to the dough, which makes them more like an austrian linzer tort.

The general idea is to make an equal number of tops and bottoms - they're the same shape and size, but with a window cut out of the tops.  Dust the tops with powdered sugar and sandwich some jelly between the layers, and they're good enough to hide a few away when company comes.

What you see here is the last step in the assembly process:

My mother put a small note on the bottom of her recipe when she passed it along to me that said "do this over the sink."  I didn't fully appreciate that note until I sprinkled powdered sugar all over my countertop the first year.  That's why we're putting this tip up top!  A drying rack over the sink and a small sieve (or you can use a sifter, but I think they're a pain to clean!)  makes cleaning up the sugary mess a snap.

We melt the jelly in the microwave, about 45 seconds for a small jar, emptied into a bowl.  It has to be cool enough not to run all over the place, but liquid enough to get a smooth, glossy blob on the bottom.  You can see from the picture that you want your jelly blob to be just big enough to reach under the edges (think glue) but you don't want it smooshing out the edges.  While this takes practice, the up side is you can eat your mistakes.

I bake my cookies on parchment paper for two reasons.  It makes swapping out the pans easy, because they're essentially clean under the paper and because you can slide the entire sheet of cookies off your cookie sheet onto the cooling rack.  I find I break fewer tops this way.

These cookies are extra work, like any roll-out cookie.  I portion the dough into several lumps to refrigerate because it's easier to work your way through a small batch of dough before it gets too warm and soft to handle (and that doesn't make for good cookies either).  That said, I always make a double batch, because they are everyone's favorite.  Well, they're my favorite!

The kids love rolling the dough, sprinkling the tops, assembling and, of course, eating!

You can find other recipes on the web for spitzbuben, but here's the one I've been using, adapted from my mother's holiday notebook.

Spitzbuben

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar plus more for dusting the tops

2 large egg yolks

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (you can substitue up to 1/3 cup of the flour with finely ground hazlenuts but if you use more nuts, the dough will be dry and crumbly.  I put the whole nuts in the food processer and run it until they have the consistency of cornmeal)

For the filling: 2/3 cup (1 small jar) seedless rasberry jam.  Blackberry jam is also good.

Beat butter with an electric mixer until it is light and fluffy.  Add the sugar and combine well.  Add yolks beating well after each addition.  Add flour and fold in thoroughly.  Divide the dough into two equal portions and wrap in plastic wrap.  Press it into even squares and refigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350*.  Line two sheets with parchment paper.  Lighly flour your working surface and roll the chilled dough out to about 3/16 inch thick.  Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, begin cutting tops and bottoms.  Tops have a smaller shape cut out.  If you don't have ideal cookie cutters, you can use a round biscuit cutter for the larger size and a pastry bag tip or small shot-glass for the center cut-out.

I recommend doing a sheet of tops and a sheet of bottoms so you have the same number of each in every batch.

Put them in the oven, reduce the temperature to 325* and bake for about 12 minutes until they are golden brown.  Transfer the parchment paper to cooling racks to cool completely.

Tip: let your cookie sheets cool thoroughly between batches - a warm sheet will begin melting the cookies as you put them on and they will look uneven.

When you're ready to assemble the cookies, follow the instructions above.

The cookies keep well between wax-paper layers in an airtight container for up to two weeks (or so I've been told!)  You can also make the cookies ahead of time and freeze them in ziploc bags for a month without powdered sugar or jelly, then assemble when you're ready.

Here's hoping you enjoy your own version of this delicious tradition!

Did You Miss Us?

Sorry to be away so long, but we were thinking of you.  Really, we were!  We had our annual Eggnog party last night, so we've been baking up a storm and cleaning house, but we've taken photos along the way and have lots of fun to share with you.

The center piece is always the eggnog, but we noticed this year that the mini-quiche and veggie platter disappeared at an astounding rate.  Next year we'll have to make more quiche (and fewer cookies?  or just invite more guests!?)

The eggnog is easy - we use the Joy of Cooking's recipe for "Eggnog in Quantity" but there was a similar one in the New York Times dining section just last week. 

We'll post some of the cookies and quiche recipes here in the upcoming days, so if you're in need of some party food, check back!

A New Favorite Cookie: Palmiers

One of my goals for this fall was to find some easy recipes for snacks and desserts so we'd have a more consistent supply of homemade lunchbox items and after-school snacks.  Of course, the challenge is finding things that aren't too time-consuming, rely primarily on ingredients we're likely to have around, and can be pulled together between dinner, homework and storytime. 

No small goal!

I came across a recipe for Palmiers in my Barefoot in Paris cookbook and realized they require three basic ingredients: puff pastry, sugar and salt.  Although I don't normally keep puff pastry in the freezer, it was an easy addition to the milk-run.

We made them after dinner and the kid-chef handled the measuring and assembly herself.  One caution - these cookies get really hot when they're cooking.  Flipping them is an adult-chef task, for sure!

The cookbook version came out very sugary and almost hard - they lost some of the flaky qualities I remember from having these as a kid.  That crumbly, airy feel of crunching through cookie and sugarwas one of the best parts of a palmier, so we'll be cutting the sugar in half on the next round.  I also found that one sheet of dough was plenty for a week's supply.

Here's our version:

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator overnight.
1/2 cup sugar mixed with a dash of salt.

Preheat oven to 450*
Spread half the sugar-salt mixture over your baking surface

Unfold the dough on the sugar, spread the remaining sugar on the dough and roll the dough out to a 1/8 inch thick sheet.
Fold the left and right edges of the dough in toward the center of the sheet, then fold the edges in again to meet in the middle.  Fold the right side over the left side so you have a log of dough.

Cut 1/3 inch slices off the folded dough and transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
leave about 1 inch between cookies, since the slices will expand.  Use multiple cookie sheets if necessary.

Tip: If you don't use a lot of parchment paper, this is the time to get some!  Without it, the pans will be a mess - with it, you can flip the cookies with ease, then slide the entire sheet of paper off the baking sheet onto the cooling racks when they're done. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to use waxed paper instead of parchment - it is not the same.  Trust me on this one.

Let the cookies bake for about 6 minutes, until they're golden brown.  Flip them with a wide metal spatula and return them to the oven.  Cook them another 3 minutes.  They cook really quickly, so keep an eye on them at the very end.  You want them to be browned, but not dark. 

They will be very hot when you flip them and when you take them out - make sure the testers don't get too eager or they'll have burnt tongues.

My daughter gave these a thumbs up as her new favorite cookie.

I love that they were a snap to make, and the cleanup was next to nothing.  They'd make a great last-minute "oh dear I forgot I needed to bring something tomorrow....." dessert.

Food is for Sharing

My sisters sent my son a box of cookies for his birthday.  A perfect gift, in his opinion.  He opened the box, counted the cookies, and promptly offered to share with his sister.

For the record, I don't think I ever had the impuse to share my birthday or holiday stash with my sisters.

"She's nice to me," was his reason.

"I wasn't that generous with my sisters," I mused out loud.

"Well, your cookies would have been gone faster!" he reasoned.  True, one sister versus three. 

I think they just get along really well, but it remided me of one of the reasons I want my kids to learn how to cook.  Because food is for sharing.

Although I still find it easier to share dinner than my personal stash of chocolates, maybe I'll take a lesson from the younger ones and share those chocolates.  Tomorrow night.