Dessert

The Heartbreak Cookie: Linzer Hearts

February 10, 2018 By Caroline 11 Comments

Slightly softened by their raspberry filling, fragrant with hazelnuts and a touch of cinnamon, Linzer cookies are a special treat. However, these pretty little cookies can be a real pain to make. The dough can be sticky and difficult to handle when you are after perfect scalloped edges and crisp center cutouts. I seem to be cursed every time I make these—from the motor on my food processor giving out in the middle of grinding nuts, to struggling to get the skins off the hazelnuts, to the dough sticking and ruining the shape of my cookies—I’ve experienced pretty much every way these can go wrong! It can be a real heartbreak to watch the shapes all smoosh and fall apart after all the work you’ve put into them. In this post I share the tips and tricks I’ve honed to get these cookies to turn out delicious and pretty with minimal fuss. Read on to learn how!

To start with, buy blanched hazelnuts with the skins already removed. This saves you a lot of tedious work trying to get them off yourself and makes no difference in the final flavour. Do be sure the toast the hazelnuts before grinding them, to bring out the full flavour. Prep the hazelnut and brown sugar, flour with dry ingredients, and whipped butter and brown sugar as shown below:

After fluffing up the butter and brown sugar, blend in the nut mixture, followed by the flour mixture. The dough should have the texture and consistency shown in the photo below:

Divide the cookie dough into two and place each half onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten each ball into a disk, wrap and toss into the fridge to chill for two hours. This will make the dough easier to work with when it’s time to roll it out. Once it’s done chilling, prepare your work surface (this step is very important!) Lay a sheet of wax paper on the countertop (I like to tape the sides down with just a small piece of tape on each edge). If your wax paper is not very large, overlap two pieces. Then, lightly flour this surface (without the flour, the cookies will still stick to the wax paper—little buggers!) Next, remove one cookie dough disc from the fridge, and place onto the prepared work surface. Lightly dust the top with a bit of flour, then add another piece of wax paper on top. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8″, running your hand over the dough to check that it is as even as possible throughout. I used a specific Linzer cookie cutter but found it to be very disappointing. The dough does not stay in the cutter and remains stubbornly on my work surface instead, as shown below.

To get around this, I used a metal offset spatula. First I gently lifted away the excess dough; then very carefully slid the spatula between the cookie and the wax paper to lift it off and transfer it to the waiting cookie sheet, taking care not to stretch the cookie. This was the most delicate part; once the cookie was on the spatula it was easy to flip it off onto the baking sheet. Once you’ve got all the cookies cut out and on the baking sheets, chill the baking sheets in the fridge for about 15 minutes. This is critical to help the cookies keep their shape for the next step: cutting out the centres for the pretty filling reveal.

Count your cookies, ideally you’ll have the same number on each cookie sheet. You need to cut out the centre window shape on half of the cookies. Cut the windows all out on the same baking sheet as they bake a bit faster than the cookie bottoms, if they are together you take them out of the oven a minute or so before the bottoms. Another disappointment with my cookie cutter: it came with an insert to hold the centre in position, however when you press down it leaves a terrible ring around the edge of the cookie. No good! Instead I just free-handed it, placing the hearts in the centre as best I could—most were pretty close.

Rather than discard the centres of the cookies, I bake them into adorable mini-linzers! They look cute when plated together, and are perfect for snacking 🙂

Bake the cookies, removing them from the oven when the edges are lightly golden. Allow to rest for a minute or so (but not much longer) and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to fully cool. I left the cookies on the baking sheet until they were fully cooled once and guess what, they wanted to stick to the cookie sheet, too! Take all of the bottoms and spread with a generous dollop of raspberry jam, keeping the edges clear so the jam doesn’t smoosh out and make a mess when you put the tops on.

Take the rack of cookie tops, and sift them with icing sugar. I like to use a generous amount. So pretty!

Finally, assemble the tops to the bottoms, being careful not to get any powdered sugar on the jam areas. I found giving the tops a light tap underneath before adding to the cookie bottom helped a bit. Don’t forget to fill your baby-linzers, too. And you’re done! Well almost. You’ve just spent all this time making these beautiful cookies, but how to store them without getting powdered sugar all over the centres? I take a round metal tin, trace the lid onto some wax paper, and cut out perfectly fitted wax paper liners (about 5–6). Line the bottom, place cookies in a single layer, top with a wax paper sheet, and keep layering until your precious cookies are all carefully packaged up.

A pain to make, but so delicious, I love Linzer cookies and wouldn’t have them any other way!

Adapted the Linzer Cookie Recipe at Epicurious.

5 from 2 votes

Linzer cookies

The cookie version of the famous Austrian cake, these lightly spiced cookies with raspberry filling are a delight!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Austrian

Prep Time 3 hours

Cook Time 12 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 12 minutes

Servings 24 cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup hazelnuts, blanched (skins removed) (3 oz)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar, divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
250 ml seedless raspberry jam (approx 8 oz)
1/2 cup icing sugar

Instructions

Toast hazelnuts in a preheated 350° oven for 6–8 minutes. Allow to cool, then pulse in a food processor with 1/4 cup of brown sugar until finely ground.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
In a large bowl beat 1/4 cup brown sugar and butter with a hand-mixer until pale and fluffy, about 6 minutes. (About half that amount of time if using a stand-mixer) Add nut mixture and beat until well combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until partly combined, then beat on low speed to fully combine. Divide dough into 2 and form each half into a flat disk on plastic wrap. Wrap and chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
Prepare a clean counter surface with a large sheet of wax paper, using a small piece of tape on each side to help hold it in place. Sprinkle with flour. Remove one disk of dough from the fridge and place onto prepared surface. very lightly flour the top of the dough and add an additional piece of wax paper on top. Roll out the dough to 1/8" thick, and remove the top layer of wax paper.
Have two cookie sheets ready beside your work area. Using cookie cutter, cut cookies as close together as possible to maximize the dough. If the cookies don't stay in your cutter to transfer onto the cookie sheet and remain on the wax paper instead, gently lift away the excess dough using an offset metal spatula until the edges of the first row of cookies are exposed. Gently slide the offset spatula between the cookie and the wax paper layer, lifting the cookie being careful not to allow it to warp or stretch to maintain the shape. Transfer to cookie sheet, leaving 1" between each cookie. Repeat with remaining dough until your two cookie sheets are full. Transfer the cookie sheets to the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°. Once chilled, remove cookies from fridge and using the smaller heart cutter, cut out the centres from half of the cookies. Gently remove the centres, (I found a toothpick worked well to flick them out while preserving their shape). Drop the small cutouts onto the baking sheet in the spaces between the cookies, distributing on the two sheets if needed. Place in preheated oven and bake for 10 – 12 minutes, until edges are lightly golden. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer carefully to a wire rack, keeping the tops separate from the bottoms (and mini-hearts will be too small for the rack, they can cool on a plate).
Asses your dough scraps, press together into a disk and transfer to the fridge to chill. Dough can be re-rolled once or twice max in this manner. Complete cookie cutting and baking process until all cookies are baked and ready.
Once cool, take the wire racks with the top halves with the cutouts and place on a baking sheet. Sift icing sugar on top and set aside.
Spread jam onto the bottom layers, using a generous amount and keeping it in the centre with a 1/8" clear area around the edges of the cookies. As the jam squishes out when you add the tops, this will keep them neat and prevent the jam from oozing out the sides. Carefully add the pretty dusted tops. I like filling the baby heart cookies with jam as well, without any sugar on top.
These cookies are best stored in a tin so they can breathe. Cut 5 or so sheets of wax paper to the size of your tin (I trace the lid as a guide). Line the bottom, add the first row of cookies carefully in a single layer; top with a fitted wax paper sheet, layer on the next row of cookies, and so on, until the tin is full. Sprinkle in the baby hearts as you go (if you don't snack on them all first!)

Vanilla Kipferl: The Can’t-Live-Without Holiday Cookie

December 4, 2017 By Caroline 11 Comments

This is it. The one everyone agrees is THE cookie. More delicate than shortbread, scented with vanilla sugar, to be made only with finely ground walnuts (no imposter almonds!) Take a bite and the cookie cascades like a buttery waterfall of sugary crumbs that melt in your mouth, with an elegant finish of earthy walnut. These are Grandma’s Vanilla Kipferl (Vanillekipferl), and this is the recipe her family has made for generations.

I remember when Grandma shared the recipe with me. She told me a special grinder was needed for the walnuts, to get them fine enough. And that she mixed everything right on the countertop. (No bowls: mind=blown!) She taught me how the residual amount of butter on the foil wrappers they come in is usually just enough to grease the cookie sheets if you rub the wrapper directly onto the sheet. Her recipe was completely in metric, and she had what I thought was the most unusual dry measuring tool. It was shaped like a funnel with ingredients like flour, sugar, etc outlined in German on the inside along the top, and the corresponding units in grams below each ingredient (as 100 g of flour would sit at a different height in the funnel than 100 g of sugar). No mixing tools were used at all, she just used her hands to form the dough.

I was determined to learn how to make these cookies, so I went home loaded with notes and worked on sorting it all out into something I could make with the tools I had. For starters, the walnuts. While she highly preferred using a specialized hand-grinder, I didn’t have this so I tried out my mini-food processor to grind the nuts instead. I have done this ever since and with a good quality, sharp blade you can get the nuts quite fine. No one has ever complained about the texture when eating my cookies, so I think it is just fine this way. Though if you have a German hand grinder, it would certainly make for a lovely, fine texture for your cookies. Below you can see a close-up photo of the grind texture obtained using a mini-processor. You also need to take care not to over-process, after which you will turn the nuts into nut butter instead of ground nuts!

Next, how to mix the dough. I have to admit I felt a bit uneasy diving in using my hands in the early stages of the dough with so much butter. I also preferred the comfort of using a mixing bowl. My instincts told me to treat this a bit like pastry—after all the cookie is almost somewhere between a cookie and a pastry itself with its delicate texture, and it does start with cold butter. So I modified the technique to combine the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter to get it roughly incorporated before moving on to using my hands to knead it together. This keeps the butter from getting too warm, and yields a great texture in the end product. (If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you could also use two knives for this step.) Below is a close-up shot showing the desired texture you want to achieve using the pastry cutter.

Now, roll up your sleeves, remove any rings, and get in there with your hands! Squeeze, press and shape the dough until it comes together and forms a solid mass or ball. Grandma’s recipe says to add a little bit of milk if it’s not holding together, but generally I find I don’t need any, there is a lot of butter and the walnuts have some natural oils, too.

Grandma was able to roll out the kipferls with such deft efficiency, I felt utterly useless with my pathetic looking little crescents at first (that took me three times as long to make). But don’t give up, it just takes practice. After all, she had probably hand-rolled literally thousands of these cookies by the time she was teaching me the ropes. One tip I learned from practice: don’t roll out too much dough at once, it will just fall apart. Also, you need to get the pressure just right—press too light while rolling and the roll will crumble from the centre. Press too hard and you’ll crush it. I found an even rolling style, using my palms rather than my fingers (finger impressions leave the roll dented and uneven), and gently coaxing the roll to grow out to the sides while pressing down works best.

Starting with a small handful of dough (about the size of a large egg) roll it between your hands to get it started into a long roll. Then move it to the counter and roll it out until it is about 1/2″ inch in diameter. Next, cut the roll into 1″ pieces, and roll those out a bit more, turning the ends into the crescent shape and pinching the ends into points.

It is important to remember that these cookies puff out and grow, so make them smaller than what you desire for the final cookie. I find it is really important for the aesthetic of the cookie to pinch the ends into points, otherwise they puff out and the ends lose their shape. For comparison, check out the raw cookie dough on the baking sheet shown immediately below, and the baked cookies, further down, to see the difference in size. A note about baking: during the final 3-5 minutes, you need to watch them like a hawk as they will go from perfect golden brown to dark with a bitter taste in a matter of 30 seconds—this is in large part due to the walnuts that burn easily. Even Grandma used to end up with a batch here and there that she would complain were overdone 🙂 When they display a nice even golden hue overall, they are ready to come out of the oven.

It is also important to note how fragile Vanilla Kipferl are. When you take them out of the oven, do not try to move them for at least five minutes, or you will be sure to break them. They need a bit of time to set as they cool.

For the sugar coating, Grandma always used packaged vanilla sugar mixed with icing sugar. If you can’t find packaged Vanilla Sugar, you can make it yourself by mixing a cut open, scraped out vanilla bean (along with the vanilla seeds) with icing sugar, ideally letting the bean sit in the sugar overnight to maximize the flavour transfer.

I find Vanilla Kipferl are far too delicate to be tossed in sugar. Instead it is much easier and more efficient to sift the powdered sugar over top. I also like to ensure the bottoms of the cookies get their sugary coating, so I developed the method shown below, where you set out two cookie sheets and the final storage tin lined with wax paper. Place your cooling rack with cookies onto the first tray, then dust both that and the empty tray with vanilla sugar. Then move the cookies onto the dusted empty tray to coat the bottoms, before moving them into the paper lined tin.

A quick note about storage: Grandma always said these cookies need to breathe, they do best in a tin lined with paper, and never seal the lid on tight—always leave a small air gap. The cookies last for weeks, in fact I think they get better with a bit of age.

I feel honoured to be able to carry on the tradition of making Vanilla Kipferl, following in the footsteps of so many generations before me. I always remember Grandma when making them—mine will never be quite as good as hers, but I think she would be pleased to know we still carry on her tradition every year. I hope you will try them out too, and maybe add a new cookie tradition to your holidays!

5 from 3 votes

Vanilla Kipferl: The Can't-Live-Without Holiday Cookie

More delicate than shortbread, Vanillekipferl melt in your mouth with a rich shattering of buttery, sugary crumbs lightly scented with vanilla.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Austrian, Viennese

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 50 cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups walnut pieces (165 g)
2 1/4 cups flour (345 g)
1/3 cup granulated sugar (70 g)
2 sticks cold unsalted butter (240 g)
1 cup icing sugar
1 package Vanilla Sugar (9 g)

Instructions

Prepare 2–3 baking sheets by lightly coating them with butter (Residual on the foil butter wrappers is usually the perfect amount and you can just rub the wrappers face-down onto the cookie sheets). Preheat the oven to 375°.
Grind walnuts as fine as possible using a food processor, stopping when it starts to form solid clumps, to avoid over-processing it into nut butter. Add to a large bowl with flour and sugar and stir to combine.
Cut cold butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter (or 2 knives) cut butter into the flour mixture until it forms an even small crumb. (Refer to photo in story for a visual reference.) Use your hands to completely combine the butter into the flour, kneading until the dough forms a smooth ball. Only if needed, add a small amount of milk to help the dough hold together.
Take a small handful of dough and gently roll with light pressure into a log about 1/2" in diameter. Cut roll into 1" pieces. Take each piece and gently roll into the final cookie length, curving into a crescent shape and pinching the ends to taper them. Keep in mind they will puff and grow larger in the oven, so make them a little smaller than your desired final cookie size. Place on prepared baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 15–18 minutes. Rotate the cookies half-way through baking to ensure evenly browned cookies. Check carefully starting at 15 minutes to ensure they don't get too dark—the walnuts are delicate and will go from perfectly golden to burnt in a matter of 30 seconds if you step away! Remove from the oven when the cookies have an even light golden tone. Resist the urge to move the cookies off the sheet, as they are very fragile and will break while too warm. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before moving the cookies to a cooking rack. Allow to cool completely on the rack before coating with vanilla sugar in the next step.
Mix icing sugar and vanilla sugar in a small bowl, have a small sifter ready. Set out two cookies sheets that fit your cooking rack, and have a metal tin lined with wax or parchment paper ready. Place one cooling rack with cookies into the first cookie sheet. Dust with sugar using the sifter, and also dust the empty cookie sheet beside it. Next, transfer the sugar dusted cookies from the cooling rack to the empty cookie tray you just coated with icing sugar—this is to coat the bottoms of the cookies. Finally transfer the finished cookies into the prepared cookie tin.

Test-Kitchen: Martha Stewart Apple-Cider Doughnut Bundt Cake

October 17, 2017 By Caroline 5 Comments

Martha Stewart came out with a new book last May, called A New Way to Bake. Touted as “the next-generation home-baking bible,” the book claims to offer healthy alternatives to your favourite baked goods with ingredients including whole-grain flours, quinoa, chia and coconut oil. The bundt cake on the cover caught my eye so I decided to give it a try.

This recipe takes advantage of fresh apple cider, whole wheat flour, olive oil and unsweetened applesauce.

I found the final result was a cake with a lovely texture, moist but not too dense. It sort of reminded me of a cake doughnut/coffee cake hybrid.

For me, the one fail was the natural cane sugar coating on the outside of the cake. It just wouldn’t stick to the cake, the texture of the sugar is too coarse so I could not achieve the lovely look of Martha’s cover cake. I finally gave up and simply sifted some icing sugar with cinnamon on top instead.

Overall this is a solid cake recipe that tastes great. You feel a bit less guilty eating it because of the whole wheat flour and other healthy substitutions. It still has quite a bit of sugar, so I’m not sure you could exactly call it healthy, but replacing some refined sugar with the applesauce and apple cider seem like healthier substitutes. I found it was nice to take to the office for a mid-afternoon snack the next day, too. Get the recipe here.

Peach Raspberry Pie

September 5, 2017 By Caroline 2 Comments

It’s hard to believe the CNE is over, the Labour Day weekend has just passed, and everyone is “back to school”. But don’t fret, technically summer is still here until September 22, peaches are still plentiful, and now is the perfect time to bake up the best pie you’ll ever eat! So many people are afraid to make their own pie crust, and I have to admit it is almost magical how butter and flour can turn into something so flaky and delicious. But honestly, it’s not hard and the ingredients are so simple. You can totally do this, I have all the instructions and even some video to show you how it’s done.

One key thing to remember is the importance of keeping your pastry cold. The butter has to be cold right from the start, and you can’t skip the various stages of putting the dough in the fridge when directed.

To begin, combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut up two sticks of butter (keep them in the fridge right until you are ready to cut them) into cubes and cut the butter into the flour mixture. I like to use a pastry cutter, shown below, as it does a quick job of working the butter in. You can also use two knives. Some people use a food processor for this step, but I don’t actually own one that’s big enough, and I’d rather not clean all the food processor parts afterwards anyways 🙂

Keep working the butter into the dough until the texture is a coarse, crumbly mix with even, peppercorn sized lumps of butter throughout. Add ice water (again, very cold water is key, I set aside a small bowl with cold water and add ice cubes, and measure out from there), a little at a time, mixing with a fork and adding only what you need for the dough to hold together. When you think it’s ready, take some in your hand and press it together. If it holds together and looks roughly like the photo below, it’s ready to be kneaded together.

Knead the dough together until all of the crumbs are well combined into a nice, smooth (but somewhat craiggy) ball. While you don’t want to over-work the dough here and risk the butter getting too warm, you also don’t want to under-do it and end up with crumbly dough that won’t roll out nicely. I usually knead until it’s holding together well, then knead a few more times just to really combine everything well.

Divide your ball of dough in half, and then press each half onto a sheet of plastic wrap, forming each into a flattened disk about 1″ thick. I press them out with my palm and press the sides in to shape them as shown below. Then wrap them up and place into the fridge for about 50 minutes.

Meanwhile you can work on your filling. Peel and slice your peaches (fastest method: cut around the circumference of your peach to the pit, twist peach in half. Then slice peach into quarters. Hold a peach quarter in your hand, peach skin facing you. Slide your knife under the top corner of the skin, and in a single motion pull the skin off from top to bottom using the knife.) Another real time saver is to use frozen peaches (if you can find them—I get mine at MacMillan Orchards in Ajax) as they come already peeled and sliced. (Also this allows you to enjoy this pie all year round!) Mix the peaches with sugar and flour, and then add the raspberries.

By now your pie crusts should be done chilling. Prepare your work area with flour and roll out the bottom crust. Once you’ve draped it over the pie plate, get it back in the fridge for a good 30 minutes. During this time you can make your Egg Wash and cut up the final two tablespoons of butter.

Here’s a video covering the next few steps:

Next roll out your top pie crust, and then add the filling to your lower crust. Dot with that butter, and brush the pastry edges with Egg Wash. Roll your top crust onto the bottom and trim the excess pastry from the edges of the pie plate. Crimp the edges together, and back in the fridge it goes for another 20 minutes or so, to allow the top crust to chill.

Finally, cut vents into the top crust, brush with Egg Wash all over, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. I love to get decorative with my pie crusts and make leaf shaped vents, and add extra leaves on top (“glued” with egg wash) to make the prettiest pie. You just can’t buy a pie that looks like this at the store (and the crusts on those don’t even come close to the flakiness level of this one!) Bake at high heat to brown the crust, then turn down the heat for the final phase to finish the pie and bake the fruit. I love to serve with vanilla ice cream on the side. Once you’ve had homemade pie like this, you’ll never want to go back to store-bought!

Pie fresh out of the oven, photographed from above. Crust has vents shaped like leaves, with additional dough leaves creating a circular pattern on the crust.

5 from 1 vote

Peach Raspberry Pie

My favourite pie, hands down, is this peach raspberry double-crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
2 sticks Cold , unsalted butter (1 cup)
5–7 tbsp Ice water

Filling

4 lbs Peaches (about 8 medium) Peeled and sliced
1/2 pint Raspberries
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup All-purpose flour
2 tbsp Cold, unsalted butter cut into pieces

Egg Wash

1 egg
2–3 tbsp milk

Instructions

Make pie crust: Place flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl; stir to combine. Cut butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Cut butter into flour using a pastry cutter or two knives, until the butter is broken down into tiny but discernible lumps with the flour.
Mix in ice water with a fork until dough just comes together. Press some of the dough between your fingers to check the consistency, it should hold together well. Lightly knead the dough until all crumbs are incorporated into a craggy ball of dough. Don't over-knead at this point, but under-kneading will make fora crumbly dough when you go to roll it out, so aim for fairly smooth ball.
Divide the ball of dough into two, and press each half into a flat disk onto a piece of plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for about 50 minutes. (If you forget it in there for longer than that, you'll just need to let it rest a bit when you remove it from the fridge before rolling it out)
Lightly flour your work surface, and roll out your first dough half to approximately 1/8" thick. I always take my pie plate and hold it over the dough to see if it's been rolled out large enough. Use the rolling pin to lift the dough by gently rolling the dough onto the pin, starting from one of the edges. Drape the pastry over the pie plate, adjust to fit evenly over the dish and resist the temptation to fuss with it or press it down into the dish. Transfer to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Make the filling: Combine the peaches, sugar and flour, stir to combine. Add the raspberries last and combine gently to keep them intact as much as possible.
Make Egg Wash: beat egg and milk together in a small bowl. Have a small brush ready. Cut up the final two tablespoons of butter and set aside. Roll out your second pie crust.
Grab the bottom crust out of the fridge and add the fruit filling—if the mixture is looking really juicy sprinkle with a few more tablespoons of flour. Dot with butter. Grab the reserved Egg Wash and brush it onto the edges of the bottom pie crust. Use your rolling pin to pick up the top crust and place on top. Using a knife, trim the excess dough from the sides of the pie dish. Go around the edges of the dough crimping the top and bottom crust together by placing your index finger under the crust and pushing up while pressing down on either side with your other index finger and thumb. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.
Heat oven to 425°
Remove pie from fridge and cut vents in the top crust. You can either cut simple slits on top of your crust or get creative with them. I like to cut out leaf shapes in the centre. Then I take some of the extra dough, cut it into more leaves as needed, and use Egg Wash to "glue" the pastry leaves onto the top crust to make a decorative pattern.
Last step before baking: brush the entire top crust and edges with Egg Wash, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°, and bake for 30 – 40 minutes more until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is golden. Resist slicing the pie for about 20 minutes or so to allow the filling time to thicken up slightly. I like to serve with some vanilla bean ice cream on the side.

Schvetskins (Apricot Dumplings)

August 25, 2017 By Caroline 8 Comments

Imagine your knife cutting through a soft, pillowy dumpling to reveal a juicy, fragrant, perfectly cooked apricot. You sprinkle with sugar to sweeten the fruit, and take your first bite. The crisp sugary breadcrumbs hug the dough and the sweet apricot flavour fills your mouth. This is the Schvetskin experience we enjoy as a special ritual every August when the apricots are at their peak. From humble ingredients—potatoes, breadcrumbs and apricots—you can make a delicious dessert that is hearty enough to be a light meal on its own.

While they may be officially known as Marillenknodel, we’ve always called them “Schvetskins”. You see, you can also make these with other fruits like plums or even cherries. The plum version is called Zwetschgenknoedel, which growing up sounded a lot like “Schvetskin-knoodle”—and the name stuck. So now, any fruit dumplings of this sort, we just go with “Schvetskins” which is easier for us Anglophones to remember!

For many years, Schvetskins were my nemesis. I could not get them to turn out for the life of me. They would always fall apart while cooking and turn into a terrible, goopy mess. I finally figure it out, I wasn’t using enough flour. Too much potato, and your dough will be sticky and fall apart when boiling. Even with a recipe, it can vary depending on your potatoes, humidity and other factors, so this is one you need to develop a bit of a feel for. I’ve included lots of photos to show the texture you are looking for. When in doubt, just add more flour. Better a little on the firm side, than falling apart!

A sturdy potato ricer, like the one shown below, is a great tool for this recipe as it helps ensure there are no potato lumps in your dough. I used to have a cheaper one, but with the russet potatoes I prefer to use for their dryness, it didn’t hold up well and the handles would end up all bent. The one below is from Williams Sonoma and it has very sturdy handles that easily process the potatoes. Reminds me of Play Dough’s “hairdresser” salon kit (I always wanted one of those growing up!)

So once you have “riced” your cooked potatoes, you add flour, egg, salt and cream of wheat. I mix it with a fork at first, then you have to get in there with your hands and knead it.

Below is a closeup of the dough to help show the consistency. It should only be a little bit sticky, and hold together into a firm shape when pressed.

Once you have the dough ready, roll each whole apricot into a little bit of flour. Take a handful of dough, and flatten it into your hand so it is big enough to wrap around the apricot (smaller apricots are ideal to use here). Fit the dough around the apricot and press it together so there are no gaps—this is important as you will be boiling them later so you can’t have any water getting in. If you are finding that the dough is tearing and not forming well around the apricot, you probably need more flour. Roll it in your hands a few times to even out the dough and press out any air gaps that may have formed between the dough and the apricot. Set on a plate while you make the rest.

Once you have used all the apricots, there is usually some dough left. This is perfect for what we call “wutzels” (I don’t even have a story of where that name comes from, just go with it!) This is where you just take a small amount of dough and roll it out to the size and shape of a plump finger. Make a bunch of these and cook them with the dumplings.

Once they are all ready, get a large pot of water boiling on the stove. Not a rolling boil, as the dumplings are a wee bit delicate; you want a nice, steady simmer. Gently drop the dumplings (don’t forget the wutzels!) into the water.

While they are cooking (usually takes about 20–25 minutes), pull out a large skillet and melt some butter. Add the breadcrumbs and white sugar, and cook on medium-high heat to toast the breadcrumbs. Be careful here, I find it tends to go very slowly at first, so I’ll walk away and ignore it for a while, only to come back to find it on the edge of burning. Once they get going, you need to stir frequently to avoid burnt crumbs on the bottom of the pan (or turn the heat way down).

When the dumplings start to float in the water, they are almost done. I give them about 5 or so minutes after they start floating, and then out they come and straight into the breadcrumbs.

Roll them around and your finished product will look something like this:

Many recipes call for the removal of the pit, to be replaced with a sugar cube. I find it much easier to just cook these whole, and remove the pits while eating. Adding sugar to your own taste is nice, and I find you can sprinkle it more evenly over the fruit that way.

Have you tried making Schvetskins? If so I’d love to hear what you thought of them!

Close up shot of juicy apricots inside fluffy potato dumplings

4.5 from 2 votes

Schvetskins (Apricot Potato Dumplings)

A traditional Austrian treat otherwise known as Marillenknodel.

Course Dessert, Lunch

Cuisine Austrian

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

4 Russet baking potatoes
2 eggs
3 cups All purpose flour, + additional for dusting apricots
2 tbsp Cream of wheat
10 Apricots (fresh) smaller size preferred
3 tbsp Butter
1 cup Breadcrumbs
1/3 cup White sugar

Instructions

Boil whole potatoes with skin on until cooked through. (Leaving the skin on keeps the potatoes more dry). Remove skins and process through a potato ricer (or mash very fine until no lumps remain). Place into a large bowl.
Add flour, cream of wheat and eggs. Blend with a fork until mostly combined, then knead into a dough. Texture will be slightly sticky but it should be fairly firm and able to hold together well.
Rinse fruit, roll in additional flour. Pack some dough in your hand about 1/4" thick, large enough to wrap around an apricot. Fit the apricot into the dough, sealing around fruit so there are no openings or cracks. Roll around in your hands to even out the dough and eliminate any air gaps. Repeat until all dumplings have been formed. (If your hands are getting out-of-control sticky, flour them)
Roll any leftover dough into "wutzels"--finger length dumplings without any fruit.
Place a large pot of water to boil on the stove. Bring to a gentle boil, and drop dumplings carefully into the water, along with the wutzels. Cook at a simmer for 20–25 minutes. When the dumplings float to the top of the pot, give them about 5 more minutes and they will be cooked through.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet. Add bread crumbs and sugar. Cook until the crumbs are a nice deep golden colour. When dumplings have cooked, add them straight to the breadcrumb pan and roll them to coat. Serve immediately with sugar on the side to sprinkle on the cooked fruit.