Spitzbuben
The jewel of the Swiss Christmas cookie tray is surely the Spitzbuben, with its elegant dusting of powdered sugar and bright ruby centre. According to the Kulinarisches Erbe, Spitzbuben are a relatively modern cookie in Switzerland, and were likely developed and named in the 20th century. The term Spitzbub refers to a mischievous boy, and the cookies may be so named because jammy faces were originally cut into the dough.
The ideal cookie base is crispy and buttery. Elisabeth Fülscher, who was one of Switzerland's premier home economists, uses a Mürbeteig, and excellent pictorial instructions are provided here.
My mum sent me her recipe, which is similar to Fülscher's, save for the addition of egg yolks. Fillings vary—I always prefer raspberry, my mum goes for the traditional red currant, and this year my unconventional friend Carmen filled hers with chocolate and caramel. Not bad!
But who says Spitzbuben shold have all the fun? Here's my recipe for the female equivalent, Luusmeitschi.
375 g flour
125 g sugar
pinch of salt
250 g butter, cold
40 g (2-3) egg yolks
1 tsp cold water
to decorate
jam
powdered sugar
Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the cold butter in pieces and rub into the flour mixture with your fingers until it is quite sandy.
Separate the yolk into a small bowl and break it up with a fork, then stir in the water. Pour this into the sandy mixture and use the fork to gently mix until you have a dough.
Separate into two discs and wrap in plastic.
Let cool in the fridge for at least an hour.
When you are ready to cut and bake:
Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F / gas mark 4
Roll out dough to be about half a cm thick and cut out cookies, trying not to work the dough too much when you re-roll.
In half of the cookies, cut an additional hole (or three) to make the top.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just golden.
To assemble:
Separate the tops from the bottoms. Dust powdered sugar over the tops. Smear a little jam (about half a teaspoon) on the bottom half and gently press the two parts together.
If you tend to have warm hands, take a break while rubbing in the butter so as not to melt it. Just pop the bowl in the fridge and run your hands under cool water for a minute.
Try to use the dough within a couple of hours of cooling, as longer in the fridge will dry it out. An hour is sufficient, but if you need to make it in advance, you can freeze the dough—just leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost.
Although jam is traditional, any filling will do. Nutella? Peanut butter? (to my mother's horror...). Or try my lemony Luusmeitschis.
Don't use too much jam and don't spread it all the way to the edges. A small blob in the centre is enough.
These cookies will keep for about a week before they start to get soggy. Store them alone in their own container and not with other cookies.
A note on rolling out the dough:
Sometimes I also roll out the dough before chilling in the fridge to save time, and so I don’t have to add extra flour.
Here’s how:
Once the dough is mixed, place half on a piece of parchment paper, pressing it into a disc. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and roll the dough out to about ½ cm thick. Repeat with remaining dough. Then chill this, either in the fridge, on a chilly balcony, or at this stage you can also freeze it, (just wrap the rolled out dough in plastic or place in a large plastic bag. Let it defrost for about 5-10 minutes before cutting out your shapes.)
When you are ready to bake, simply peel off the parchment (you can use this for baking), then cut out the cookies and bake as indicated above.