German Heidesand Cookies
Heidesand or heath sand cookies are traditional German shortcrustcookies rolled in sugar, sliced, and baked. Really simple but really good.
Servings: 35
Calories: 77kcal
Ingredients
- 100 g soft unsalted butter 3.5 oz/ scant ½ cup (Note 1)
- 50 g icing sugar 1.7 oz/ ½ cup
- 25 g marzipan paste 0.8 oz/ ¼ cup (grated and loosely packed)
- 1 sachet vanilla sugar or ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Note 2)
- 1 organic lemon only the zest
- 125 g all-purpose flour 4.4 oz/ 1 cup
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Pastry: Mix the soft butter, icing sugar, grated marzipan paste, vanilla sugar, or extract and grated lemon zest using a handheld mixer. The mixture should get creamy. Sieve the flour over this mixture and incorporate it. Form a long pastry roll, about 4 cm/ 1.6 inch thick. Halve the roll, wrap each half in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Cut cookies: Whisk the egg yolk with a fork and brush the pastry rolls all over. Place the granulated sugar on a plate and toss the roll to coat in sugar. Cut the rolls into ½ cm/ 0.2 inch slices. Place the pastry slices on the prepared baking trays.
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the cookies are golden.
Notes
- Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it ensures the best results (Amazon affiliate link).
- Typically you would use vanilla sugar, which is very common in Germany. However, if it's not available where you live, replace it with ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 77kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 22mg | Sugar: 8g