Making Spitzbuben

My first forays into the German culture were in the form of flower-shaped, jam-filled cookies.

Yes, the Spitzbuben.

Traditionally, they are a Swiss cookie, made of sticky raspberry jam sauce sandwiched between two shortbread cookies.

Like Oreos.

But not really. They're way better. And name auspiciously translates to "bad boys", or "little rascals".

This was a hectic two-day baking project, as I made cookies for the 30 kids in my German class. It was incredibly worth it, because a) the cookies were fun to make and I perfected my shortbread recipe and b) my classmates said they enjoyed it very much.

And they were so good. I haven't had that much baking experience, so this isn't saying much, but I think it's one of the best cookies I've had. Like, buttery, sweet shortbread that crumbled in your mouth, mixed with the tangy, sticky raspberry jam--I think I see more Spitzbuben in my future--maybe for the holidays, or on a rainy weekend?

Now to the recipe. I borrowed the recipe from Saveur (link here) and it makes about three dozen. (It is slightly revised.)

INGREDIENTS

3/4 lb. (3 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 egg yolks
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

 
So first I creamed the butter and sugar together briefly with a beater, and then I added the three yolks and then the flour. Set the jam aside--that's for the sauce.

I then chilled the dough overnight.

Fast forward to day two: I took the dough and thawed it, then rolled it out. With a cookie cutter, I cut 60 flower shaped-cookies. Then, using a smaller cookie cutter, I cut holes in 30 of the flowers, to form the tops. The others formed the bottoms.

(Important side note: Make sure you roll the dough thin enough--I nearly ran out of dough towards the end and had to resize half the cookies.)

Then, in batches, I baked them at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-12 minutes.

Now for the jam. The recipe linked about said to let it simmer in a saucepan for a while, but let's face it: it was pretty much 9 PM at night and I didn't want to go the trouble. So I took half a cup of the seedless raspberry jam and microwaved it for about 1 minute 15 secs--the consistency was thicker and it achieved the same purpose. I also put a spoonful of confectioner's sugar into the jam. So I would suggest simmering the jam at medium heat for 5 minutes if you have time, but if you don't/you're lazy (wink), just know that the microwave achieves the same purpose.

So hooray! Semi-authentic Swiss cookies!

And they were really good, guys. Trust me--you won't be disappointed.

So Auf Wiedersehen, and I will have another post sometime in the coming week. 

What this will all be about

Hallo, my name is Christina.

Welcome to Three Schnitzels and a Lederhosen.  And yes, that really is the name of this blog.

Basic stats: I'm a high school freshman. I go to a school with a fabelhaft (fabulous) German teacher. This blog will follow my little explorations into Germany, its people, its language, and most importantly, its culture.

So the aformentioned German teacher wanted our class to write up half-page reports each quarter, on our cultural ventures. I wanted to do a blog about it, since this will be going on for about 4 years (hopefully) and by then I can look back and see the sheer amount of fun knowledge I accumulated.

So this is not just cluttered folders of dry reports of Facts About Germany or any of what they made us do in first grade. There will be rants. Kitchen times. The intricate complexities of a German trash system. Songs and music, modern and old. My goal is to embody as much of Germany as I could, as a student living in America. 

Care to join me?