Christmas Cookies Pt I
Last year I made Christmas cookies and put some photos up on flickr and several people asked for the recipe. One year later here I am fulfilling their request. I can't say I'm speedy, but I AM on time... for Christmas. I will post another recipe a little later, since I have to translate them both and it takes me a while because usually I am not allowed to sit at the computer for longer than a few minutes at a time. Apprently I don't make the rules aorund here. Both recipes are from Austria, some magazine or a friend, I don't recall.
(I proof-read this, but if you find a mistake, PLEASE tell me, I don't want to ruin Christmas!)
Burgenländer (Makes about 90 cookies)
For measuring use a scale, do NOT use cups!!!
10 oz flour 2 sticks of butter, chilled 2 oz powdered sugar 3 yolks
For filling and topping: 3 egg whites 10 oz sugar Melted chocolate (preferably dark) 3-4 oz apricot jam
You will need a roundish cookie cutter, a cake decorating bag with a star-shaped tip of your choice (between ¼ and ½ inch diameter)
Mix flour with cold butter until it resembles coarse mal, then quick mix in sugar and yolks to form a smooth ball of dough. Wrap dough in saran wrap and chill for an hour.
In the meantime for the meringue, beat egg whites with sugar over steam until very stiff. (You want to slowly add the sugar as you're beating the eggs, so you don't make the egg whites to heavy from the start. Heat some water in a deeper pan until it starts bubbling, hold the bowl with the egg whites and sugar above it while you beat it. I usually use a bowl that is wider than the pan, so I can let it sit there a little bit and don't have to hold it the entire time.). When you're done, let the eggwhites cool off and then fill your bag.
Preheat oven to 350. Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll out dough on surface dusted with flour, it should be about a 1/8 inch thick (about 2-3 mm). Cut cookies with a circle-shaped cutter.
Place cut-out cookies on the cookie sheet and with your decorating bag make circles on top of only half of them. Bake cookies on middle rack for about 12 minutes (check a few minutes earlier to make sure you don't let the meringue get too dark), remove from oven and let cool.
Spread apricot jam on empty cookies and join them with the meringue covered ones. Warm up your chocolate and place a drop on the center of each meringue circle.