When I think about cooking, it usually swiftly veers toward baking, thanks to my ever-present sweet tooth. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember. I’ve even kidded about ordering dessert as a first course so as not to miss out on my favorite part of a meal because I’m too full.
So it’s a no-brainer for me to experiment more with sweets when it comes to our Hyggelig endeavors. And in doing some Hyggelig research, we recently came across these beautiful cookies called hindbaer snitter, or raspberry slices. Danish people will instantly recognize them.
If you Google “ hindbær snitter” (warning: don’t do this if you’re hungry!) and look at the images, you’ll see row after row of these mouth-watering treats, one more beautiful than the last. They can be made as bars (easiest) or as cutouts (a little more challenging).
I found a recipe online and got to work; it wasn’t as hard as I expected. Not a lot of ingredients and nothing really out of the ordinary. The first batch of dough produced layers that seemed a little too thick – I had the feeling these were meant to be delicate. So the next batch got rolled out to a dangerously thin thickness, probably just shy of 1/8”. This worked well, but I had to watch them carefully in the oven so they didn’t burn on the bottom.
Another key learning was that if you roll the dough out on parchment paper you can transfer that to a cookie sheet after removing the scraps. This way you can avoid my “mistake” batch — the shapes looked nothing like I had intended after trying to scrape them off the counter (even with a liberal dusting of flour).
You’ll want to have the icing and decorations at the ready as soon as the cookies are cool enough to handle. The icing sets quickly so your sprinkles need to be applied in haste. In other words, I wouldn’t ice the entire batch and then try to decorate them and risk some non-sticking sprinkles. If you’re lucky enough to have an eager assistant, you can work in tandem. Then, of course, enjoy the treats together!
Here’s the recipe – I hope you enjoy your snitters!
Hindbær Snitter (Raspberry Slices)
Dough:
- 18 Tablespoons (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2-3/4 cup flour
Filling:
- Raspberry jam
Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons milk
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- Food coloring (optional )
Preheat oven to 400˚F.
Mix butter, powdered sugar, egg, baking powder and flour. Knead together to form a stiff dough (do not knead too long). Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8” thickness. Cut into 4” by 10” strips and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 8 minutes (watch carefully so they don’t burn). The edges will be slightly brown when done.
Meanwhile, prepare the icing. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Add corn syrup, extract and food coloring (if using) and stir until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Add additional corn syrup if mixture is too thick. Icing should be spreadable but not runny.
After the strips have cooled slightly, spread half of the strips with a thin layer of the jam. Cover with the remaining strips to form cookie sandwiches. Spread a thin layer of icing on top of each sandwich and quickly sprinkle with desired decorations. Cut the sandwiches into 1” by 4” pieces using a sharp knife.
If you’re making cutouts, roll the dough out on a floured sheet of parchment and cut out the desired shapes using a cookie cutter or a round glass. Remove the scraps and set aside for an additional batch of cookies, or discard. Bake shapes or rounds at 400˚F for about 8 minutes or until slightly browned. Cool and decorate as per the above.
