Original Post 2/5/10
RETRO GERMAN BAKING
Part 2
Raisin Hearts
Many of this book’s recipes feature a general version of cakes, souffles, cookies, bread, etc. then it illustrates different variations by adding different ingredients. Ah, typical German efficiency! When flipping through the baking sections, I was intrigued by this cookie dough recipe because it has only four ingredients – butter, sugar, flour and one egg yolk.
I had started out with the intention to make a different cookie with the same dough recipe and failed miserably on the last two attempts. The problem was not the recipe, I am, um having a little a decorating issue. Still trying to solve it. Hopefully I will be victorious and can feature the results on the next RGB entry. So I switched gears at the last minute and since it’s getting close to Valentine’s Day, I decided to try these Raisin Hearts made from the same dough.
In general Germans use a lot less sugar in their baked goods than Americans. My German husband finds many of the American baking recipes I make to be way too sweet. An ultra gooey chocolate brownie topped with rich creamy ice cream would just make him gag. OK that was probably too much information. Sorry.
Anyway back to the cookie recipe. Because of so few ingredients, they were a breeze to make. However, they looked a bit frumpy coming out of the oven.
Just for the record, I loathe frumpy cookies. AND because I am powerless over my compulsion to embellish things, I added a little drizzle of red frosting to bedazzle them a bit. The icing made them sweeter as well.
For the icing, I did a quickie version adding a little milk and red food coloring to powdered sugar (until it had the consistency of Elmer’s glue), snipped off a tiny corner on a ziplock bag, filled the corner and piped the icing on the cookies.
The cookies are buttery tasting, easy and quick to make and are lighter texture in comparison with most others. These were not the best rolled cookies to work with but they weren’t the worst either. The icing added sweetness. If you have limited time, this recipe is a great solution.
Raisin Hearts
Source: GUTEN APPETIT, Ein Farbiges Kockbuch
Publisher: Olde Hansen 1972
Ingredients:
1 Stick of Butter
1/2 Cup of Sugar
1 Egg yolk
1 + 1/2 Cups of Flour
1/2 Cup of Raisins
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 325 Degrees F
-Beat butter and sugar together until light an fluffy .
-Add egg yolk and mix thoroughly.
-Knead in the flour and the raisins.
– Roll out on a floured surface and cut out cookies with the shape of your choice.
– Bake for 10 -12 minutes.
Makes about 20-24 cookies
