These are beautiful vanilla, walnut, lemon cookies, sandwiched together with apricot jam and drowned in icing sugar. They are sort of the Balkan Linzer cookie.
There is a whole genre of “sitni kolaci” (tiny cookies/sweets) in the Balkans, and these are an absolute staple and one of my favourites. Every household will have a selection of sitni kolaci at all times of the year (to be offered to unannounced but always welcomed guests), but the selection available during the festive period is exponentially increased. These are old fashioned in that they are traditionally made with lard which makes the pastry quite short and melt-in-the mouth delicious. They last beautifully and in fact improve with time. Though, I must warn you, they never actually last very long in our home…
Any Balkan person living abroad will tell you that homemade treats have an incredible way of making their way to you, wherever you are in the world. It was the same for my mother and I living in Kuwait. My grandmother always went out of her way to send a small box of these to us from Macedonia to Kuwait, so these will always have a special place in my heart.
I hope that wherever you are in the world, however you are celebrating, you have a peaceful and joyous Christmas Eve.
This recipe makes approximately 40-50 vanilici. Store them in an airtight container. They always taste best a day or two after baking.
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Directions
- Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the lard and with a fork start to mix it with the flour. Next, rub together the flour and lard with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the walnuts, sugar, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix well to combine. Add the vanilla to the beaten eggs and mix well then pour the egg-vanilla mixture into the dry mixture and working quickly, stirring with a fork or spatula until the mixture starts to come together.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 3-4 minutes until all the ingredients are well combined – the dough should be an even colour, soft and pliable but not sticky. If it is sticking to your surface add a little more flour until you are able to manipulate the dough without it sticking to the surface. Divide your dough in two discs and wrap each in cling film or reusable food wrap and rest it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment.
- Remove one of the dough discs from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured work surface. With a floured rolling pin, roll it out until it is approximately 1/2cm thick. Using a small round cookie cutter (approximately 3cm diameter) cut out small circles (dip your cutter in flour between every few cuts if you need to).
Place the circles on your prepared baking sheet, spaced at least 2cm apart. Place them in the oven as soon as you have “filled” the baking sheet with cookies. Bake them on the middle shelf of the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to turn lightly golden. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. - Re-roll any dough off-cuts as the dough is beautifully forgiving – don’t be afraid to use a little flour to re-dust your work surface and your rolling pin but don’t overdo it or you will lose the soft texture of the cookies. If the dough gets too sticky in between re-rolling just re-wrap it in cling film and place in the fridge for a few minutes.
Keep repeating the process of rolling out the dough, cutting out circles, and baking them until you have used up your dough. Repeat the process with your second dough disc. - Once cool, using a butter or palette knife, spread a little jam or pekmez on the base of a cookie – just enough to sandwich it with the base of another cookie without jam leaking from the side. Roll each sandwiched cookie in icing sugar.
Ingredients
- For the dough
250g plain flour, plus c.25g extra for dusting and rolling
150g lard
125g ground walnuts
100g caster sugar
1/8 tsp (a pinch) table salt
1 lemon, zested for 2 tsp zest and juiced for 1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 medium egg + 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
- For assembling
3-4 tbsp apricot jam , plum jam or plum pekmez
c.100g Icing sugar, for dusting
Emmi
I love the sound of these but as a veggie ,would it be ok to substitute the lard with butter or even some sort of vegetable oil?
admin
Yes absolutely – I have tried them with Trex instead of lard and it worked quite well (similar texture). Let me know how you get on!