it’s that time of year again and yesterday actually was the first sunday in advent. which of course means Christmas Cookies. i made 6 different kinds this year. among them my favorites – chai cookies, but also florentines, chocolate and lime short bread and peanut squares made the cut. so there wasn’t really anything new besides this recipe. i have to say i like this one better than the other recipe. the orange jam is a pretty good contrast to the nuts and the caramel just tops it off. i would recommend baking the short crust directly on the baking tray, but adding a layer of baking paper underneath before adding the caramel. that saves you a lot of time and effort later on, because the caramel really sticks to the baking tray otherwise.

for even more christmas cookies check here. there are actually quite a few recipes from the last years (the nougat cookiesare just amazing).

ingredients

short crust

• 250 g butter (room temperature)
• 80 g icing sugar
• salt
• 2 eggs
• 500 g flour

topping

• 100 g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 120 g butter
• 80 g honey
• 8 el heavy cream
• 4 tbsp orange juice
• 200 g sugar
• 200 g almond slivers
• 150 g orange jam
• 150 g chocolate

for the short crust either place all ingredients + 4 el ice cold water in the the food processor and let it do its work or knead the dough with your hands. form the dough into a flat rectangle, wrap in cling film and place in fridge at least 2 hours.

preheat oven to 200°. roll out dough onto a greased baking tray (40 x 30 cm). pierce several times with a fork and bake in hot oven on the lowest rack for 15 – 17  min until golden brown.

tip: when the short crust has cooled down, remove from tray, layer with baking paper and place crust on top.

for the topping bring butter, honey, cream, orange juice and sugar to a boil. add almonds and walnuts, let come to a boil briefly. evenly spread short curst with jam, spread nut mixture on top. bake on 2nd rack from the bottom for 13 – 15 min. let cool down.

with a sharp knife cut into forms – squares, rectangles, triangles… melt chocolate in a bain marie. either fill into a small piping bag or with a spoon spread chocolate in strings on top of the nut squares. let firm. keeps in tins or airtight container with layers of baking paper in between for 4-5 weeks.

Filed under: cakes, christmas cookies, sweets Tagged: cakes, caramel, christmas cookies, nut squares, nuts, short crust, sweets