Spitzbuben Cookies – German Christmas Tradition

Spitzbuben cookies are a traditional German Christmas cookie and some call them “Johannes Taler” or “Hildabrötle” or “Linzer Augen”. The name might come from the war that lasted 30 years, from 1618-1648, when food was rare and people did not have much to eat.
The baker Johannnes von Redsburg created a sweet bread which he spread with jam and gave it to those people who were starving.
The original Spitzbuben consist of 2 cookie layers. The upper one has one to three round holes. But you can use any form, the picture below shows stars. It works well with hearts or just round cutters. Happy Baking!

Ingredients Spitzbuben Cookies

300 g flour
100 g almonds ground
150 g powdered sugar
1 dash salt
1 package vanilla sugar, 0.5oz –
How to make Vanilla Sugar –
1 Tbsp lemon zest (organic)
200 g butter
1 egg
200 g red currant jelly or raspberry jam without seeds
powdered sugar for dusting

Baking Instructions Spitzbuben Cookies

– Sieve flour into a bowl.
– Add almonds, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla sugar, lemon zest, grated butter and egg on top.
– By using kneading hooks first, then with hands, knead until you get a smooth dough that is not sticky. Add some flour if it should be sticky.
– Form a ball,  wrap in plastic foil,  and keep in fridge for 2 hours.
– Layer baking trays with parchment paper.
– Pre-heat oven to 350 F (convection), 375 regular oven.

– Cut dough in half and roll each half on a floured surface (wooden baking board), thin about 3mm, less then quarter of an inch.
– Using a star cookie cutter and a round one, cut out cookies. Original Spitzbuben just have 1-3 smaller wholes in the middle, but you can use practically any cookie cutter shape.
– Bake for 10-12 min until pale yellow.
– In a bowl warm up jelly, stir until smooth (not boiling!).
– Spread jelly on the cookies that are round.
– Dust the cookie with the cut out shape with powdered sugar. if you dust them after you placed them together the jam will also be dusted.
– Place the cookies together.

Tip
If you cannot get red currant jelly you can use raspberry jam but you need to press it through a sieve to get the seeds removed before brushing on the cookies.