Vegetarian Spitzbuben (jam sandwich cookies) with redcurrant filling

Vegetarian Spitzbuben made from spelt and almond shortcrust with butter and vanilla, filled with a redcurrant purée you cook yourself with honey. Vegetarian desserts, 282 kcal per two.

At a glance

• Serves 12
• Prep time: 45 min
• Cooking time: 25 min
• Total time: 70 min
• Calories: 282 kcal per serving
• Protein: 5 g
• Fat: 17 g
• Carbs: 26 g

Ingredients

• 250g spelt flour
• 100g almonds, blanched and ground
• 60g coconut sugar
• 170g butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 250g frozen redcurrants
• 50g honey
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 pinch of salt

Method

You’ll need: oven · saucepan · sieve · wooden spoon · cookie cutters

1. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod. Quickly knead the spelt flour, almonds, coconut sugar, vanilla seeds, salt, cold butter in pieces and egg yolk into a smooth shortcrust dough. Chill for 1 hour.
2. Bring the redcurrants to the boil with the honey and cornflour, stirring, and simmer for 3 minutes until the purée thickens. Push it through a sieve and leave to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan). Roll the dough out 3 mm thin, cut out 48 round cookies and cut a small hole or heart out of the centre of half of them.
4. Bake the cookies on two trays lined with baking paper, one tray at a time, at 180 °C for 8 to 10 minutes each, until the edges are light brown. Leave to cool.
5. Spread half a teaspoon of redcurrant purée on each base and put the lids with the hole on top.
6. Leave the Spitzbuben overnight in a tin so the cookies soften.

Good to know

Spitzbuben are two tender almond cookies with redcurrants in between, peeking through a little window. You cook the purée yourself from frozen berries and honey in ten minutes. After a night in the tin, they're at their most tender.

Swaps

Redcurrants → raspberries. Spelt flour → plain flour. Almonds → hazelnuts. Vanilla pod → 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Cooking tips

Take the butter straight from the fridge and work the dough quickly, or it will get sticky. Roll it out between sheets of baking paper and you won't need extra flour.

Storage

Keeps for 2 weeks in a tin in a cool place; unfilled bases and lids keep for 4 weeks.

Allergens

Contains gluten (spelt), milk (butter), egg and almonds. Because of the honey, not for babies under 1 year old.