Swiss Holiday Cookies – To Share More and Eat Less

Food for the Ages has been baking holiday cookies all day as the snow softly descends all around. This year our holiday plans to get together with family and friends have been dashed–same as everyone else’s. But how can we be glum with the smell of cookies in the air?

While we fill our homes with the nostalgic smells, sights and tastes of the holidays we can share these little gems with others who are really feeling the need for holiday cheer!  So our goal at FFA is to bake Swiss Holiday Cookies – To Share More and Eat Less of them—if possible!

That means we’ll bake all we want this year without eating them all ourselves over the holidays. Instead, we’re notifying our neighbors that we’re giving cookies as gifts: leaving wrapped plates of cookies on their doorsteps, mailing them to distant friends and family. And don’t forget to leave a plate of cookies with your local sheriff, fire department, library, county buildings and other community friends, while socially distancing.

Beloved Swiss Recipes

Here are four simple and delicious Swiss cookie recipes provided by one of my sister Sarah’s best friends Elizabeth Bleuler-Beegle, whose mother passed them down to her.

The first, Nüsskonfekt, is what a pecan sandy wished it was. The second recipe, Kräbeli, “is for those with a more expanded palate,” Betty says. “You might not like anise or licorice flavor,” but as Betty puts it, “these cookies with lots of lemon zest – to me, are pretty heavenly. Ideally, these have an outer crunchy hollow shell with a chewy interior base. Along with a strong coffee, Kräbeli are an excellent afternoon pick-me-up.” I agree, Betty! These are amazing.

The third recipe is for Orangebeck or Lemonbeck, which is a citrus-glazed butter cookie. And the fourth recipe is for Spitzbuba, which you might recognize as a jelly sandwich cookie. Both are sublime.

Betty has changed her mother’s recipes to accommodate U.S. measurements from Celsius to Fahrenheit and grams to cups and adjustments have been made for the Colorado altitude.

Nüsskonfekt (Pecan Sandies, but better)

• Use red ring (6mm or 1/4”) on rolling pin for proper height cookie
• Have butter and the egg at room temperature
• Grind the nuts first

Ingredients

• 2 generous cups pecans plus extras for decorating later (measure the 2 generous cups before grinding). Grind to a fine consistency, food processor is very handy, but chopping by hand works too. Remember to keep those extra pecans, you’ll want to carefully cut them into quarters for  decorating later. Also, walnuts work fine in a pinch.
• 2 sticks softened salted butter (or unsalted then add pinch of salt to batter)
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 2 cup swhite flour – Approximately, use mixer for 1 1/2 cups, add rest by hand on counter surface
• 1 egg yolk for glazing + 1 tablespoon water

1. Cream butter and sugar together, add all of the ground nuts about one and a half cups flour. Once well mixed, pour onto lightly floured counter surface to work in that last half cup or so of flour. Make sure the dough can stick together, better to be slightly shy with the flour then having too much (too much makes the dough fall apart and very difficult to roll out). At this point, depending on your own schedule: you can either proceed to bake or form dough into a large round ball well-covered with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for a day or two until you’re ready to bake them.
2. Let the dough warm up a bit before attempting to roll out. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough between ¼” or 6mm thick.
3. Then, with a medium large knife, cut dough into squares of 1-1/4 inch.
4. Place cookies on parchment covered baking sheet, leaving about a half inch of space between each cookie.
5. Whisk together one egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water; mix well. Gently brush each cookie with this mixture and place a piece of a nut in each cookie’s center pressing until slightly indented. 
6. Bake in a 350F preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Try not to over bake, it happens quickly. They should be a rich golden color, but not brown.
   

Kräbeli (Addictive crispy, chewy cookie!)

 Makes 34+ cookies

NOTE: You need to allow enough time: these cookies need to be formed and to rest/rise overnight to get their “feet”. You bake them the following day. The shape of the Kräbeli reflects its name “little claws” or “little scratchers”. 

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 tablespoons anise seeds (spread out on a plate and warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds)
• The zest of two large lemons, very finely cut
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups white flour

1. Mix all ingredients together in processor, using only 2-1/2 cups of flour to start. Pulse till the dough holds together, just add rest of flour slowly.
2. Pour the dough out onto a granulated-sugar-covered counter. It is a very sticky dough, to handle the dough keep coating your palms with granulated sugar while creating these cookies.
3. Cut off smallish pieces (about walnut size), and roll dough into tube-like shape about 3 to 3-1/2 inches long and 1/2” in height, curve it on the parchment paper into a horseshoe shape and make 6 to 8 slashes with a sharp knife or sharp scissors dipped into sugar (cuts should not go past the center of the shape) but all the way around the dough on the outside. This creates the “little claws”. Allow for plenty of space between cookies as they grow in all directions overnight.
4. Set the cookie sheets in an undisturbed warm environment overnight, so they can “get their feet.” No need to cover them. The cookies grow their own little pedestals overnight.
5. Bake the following day at 300 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes – Do not allow them to get brown, just a nice beige color is perfect.

Orangebeck or Lemonbeck (Citrus-glazed butter cookie!)

 Makes about 50 small cookies

These are basically glazed butter cookies made with either lemons or oranges depending on personal preference or what’s on hand. Betty says, “They are usually very well received and are sturdy little diamonds!”

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• ¾ cups granulated white sugar – generous
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon (or orange) juice
• Zest of 2 lemons or 1 good-sized orange, finely chopped, save a bit for the icing (below)
• Almost 4 cups white flour, give or take
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• For the glaze: 6 ounces confectioner sugar, sifted and combined with 1 to 3 tablespoons of fresh juice with some zest

1. In the food processor: beat butter until creamy then add all of the other ingredients and blend well. Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface to ¼-inch to ½-inch thickness, then cut long strips forming a diamond shaped pattern. Place on a plain cookie sheet and with the back of a fork carefully press down to form grooves on top of each cookie.
2. Place in a preheated oven 350 degrees until golden (but not brown); this takes about 12 minutes. 
3. Now, while they are still warm on the cooling rate, gently brush on the glaze.
4. Make sure they are completely cooled before storing in an air tight container or they will stick together.

Spitzbuba (Jelly sandwich cookie!)

One batch makes 30 double cookies, so Betty usually makes 2 batches.

• Use orange ring on rolling pin for proper height
• Have eggs and butter at room temperature

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted good butter, softened (pinch of salt, if you like)
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sieved
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg white
• 2 1/2 c. + flour
• Clear jelly for center (Betty usually uses one red jelly and one yellow, like currant and quince jelly)

1. Mix top set of ingredients together except for the jelly, trying not to over-handle the dough, add flour as needed, I start with all ingredients in the food processor adding only 2 cups flour, then pour the dough out on counter top adding enough flour until it forms a ball. Don’t over-work dough, roll into a ball  and refrigerate for 1 hour – it is a very soft smooth dough, chilling helps it firm up a bit so you can handle it.
2. Preheat oven at 350 degrees
3. Roll out on sugared (granulated sugar) surface to a generous silver dollar thickness, cut into rounds using French scalloped cutter also dipped in sugar, and then on half of them use a thimble dipped in sugar to cut a center hole where the preserves will show through. Make an equal number with and without thimble holes.
4. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.
5. Place cut cookie dough on parchment-paper-covered cookie sheets: Bake the solid bottoms & the top “holed” pieces on same baking sheet together in even numbers. Don’t crowd your sheets.
6. Bake at 325 for about 20 minutes – bake to a very light brown, they can over-bake easily becoming too crisp.
7. Place approximately 1/2 teaspoon of jelly on the center of the solid cookie base, enough to glue the top and bottom but not ooze out the sides. They must be fresh out of the oven, still hot (toasty on the fingers) when you place the jelly on the solid bases so it melts slightly and glues the top and bottom together.
8. Gently place cookie with the hole on top, hold together and quickly roll in dish of granulated sugar just along the outside edges.
9. Place on cooling rack as you go, after they have thoroughly cooled then store in air tight metal container

For a great FFA Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Flour Cookie Recipe click here

Click here for 25 Favorite Holiday Cookies from TheKitchn.com