Here we are at the end of 2018, and I am baking again. The change of one year to the next always makes me think of “Lucky Foods” to ring in the new year. The US South has black eyed peas, Eastern Europeans have pickled herring. In Italy and I believe Spain, you eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. In Germany, there are lots of traditions as well, but I am going with something that implies luck, though not necessarily New Year’s. You see, in English, we have the expression “Lucky Devil” (as in, “You’re such a luck devil for winning the lottery!”). In German, a similar expression is to be a “Glücksschwein” (lucky pig) or “Glückspilz” (lucky mushroom). I had found these cute little cookie cutters at the Christmas Markets in Munich a few weeks ago, so decided to make Glückspilz Spitzbuben (Lucky Mushroom Linzer Cookies) — mainly because I thought that words Glückspilz and Spitzbuben would be funny to say (can’t you tell that I am a linguist by profession?). Filled with apricot and raspberry jam, and sure to bring luck in 2019!
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
1/2 cup apricot jam
Powdered sugar, for dusting
You will also need: same shaped cookie cutters, one with a cutout of a mushroom in the middle (or mushroom shaped cookie cutters, one with a hole to create the window)
Directions
In the work bowl of your stand mixer, cream together unsalted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon zest, flour, baking powder, orange juice and salt until smooth and well combined. Chill in refrigerator 2-3 hours or until firm enough to be rolled.
Preheat over to 400F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
Roll out half of the dough on a well-floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness (be careful to get the surface even, otherwise you will have oddly-browned cookies. Also, do not roll the dough to thin, otherwise you will have hard cookies when they come out of the oven). Cut with cookie cutters. For half of the cookies, use the cookie cutter with the mushroom hole in the middle to create the window.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown at the edges. Cool on wire rack.
Stir the jams individually until very smooth and silky. Spoon a little bit onto the whole cookies (in other words, the ones without the centers cut out) and place one of the “window” cookies on top, essentially creating a sandwich with the jam in the center as “glue” to hold the two cookies together. Dust cookies with powdered sugar (if you do this before the jam sets, you will have white edges with red or yellow centers).
