Engelsaugen (Angel Eyes) / Thumbprint Cookies
Traditional Christmas Cookies
Jump to RecipeWith December here, is there anything better than filling the dark, cold days with baking Christmas cookies? Christmas cookies — or as we Germans call them, Plätzchen — are an essential part of the holiday season in Germany, especially when baked at home. Whether you bake them on your own, with friends, or with family, it’s basically a social activity in winter. And a cherished tradition. People often spend hours making various types of cookies to fill their tins with a colorful assortment to share with loved ones.
This particular cookie recipe is easy to make and doesn’t require repeatedly rolling out dough or using special cookie cutters. But they still look impressive.
In German, we call these cookies literally “angel eyes”, I guess because their round shape and jam-filled centers resemble eyes. I’ve also heard them referred to as “thumbprint cookies,” since you can use your thumb to create the indentation for the jam. They’re incredibly simple to make: just roll the dough into small balls and press a hole into each one before baking.
You can use anything you can find in your kitchen that makes a round hole. For instance, the end of a wooden spoon works well. I used the ball-shaped handle of a small cheese bell, which was just the right size for the cookies. A teaspoon could also do the trick. You can really get creative here!
After baking and letting the cookies cool, fill the holes with jam. If you heat the jam beforehand, it will solidify as it cools, making the cookies easier to store without creating a sticky mess. I recommend using a variety of jams to add vibrant colors and let everyone choose their favorite flavor. Of course they are best with homemade jam, but any kind is great. You could also swap some of the flour in the dough for cocoa powder — fruit and chocolate are a great combination!
Once baked, it’s best to store the cookies in a traditional Christmas cookie tin. They should last for a few weeks, assuming you can resist eating them all before then. In my experience, this recipe makes about one baking sheet of cookies, as shown in the photo above. If you want more to share or gift, it’s easy to double the recipe.
During the holiday season, there should always be cookies on the table for your little treat of the day. And since these are so small, it’s almost impossible to resist having just one… or two!
Engelsaugen (Angel Eyes)
Course: Dessert, Sweet, Cookies, Christmas40
servings12
minutes180
CelsiusThese traditional German Christmas cookies don’t take much time to prepare and are a great small treat to have on the table.
Ingredients
250g flour
150g cold butter (cut into cubes)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract or any vanilla you have available (optional)
60g powdered sugar (can be substituted with caster sugar)
1 pinch of salt
½ Lemon (only zest!)
3-4 Tablespoons of your favorite jam
Directions
- Put all ingredients except the jam into a mixing bowl.
- Knead the dough either with a mixer or your hands so that you can form a ball. If the dough is too crumbly, you can add more butter and if it’s too sticky, you can add more flour. But make sure the butter is fully incorporated first. You probably need to knead the dough with your hands at the end.
- Wrap the dough ball in clear film and let it rest in the fridge for about an hour or longer. The dough gets warm from the kneading so the butter should be cold again.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Take about a teaspoon of dough and form it into a ball. You can make these any size you want, but then you need to adjust the baking time. Repeat this with the rest of the dough and place them all on the baking sheet. They don’t really spread so you don’t need to leave much space between them.
- Find something in your kitchen that has a ball shaped end to it so that you can make a hole in the cookies to later fill with jam. It can be for example the end of a wooden utensil. I used the handle from a tiny cheese bell.
- Make a hole in each cookie, but be careful to not completely go to the bottom. You can see this in the picture in the post above.
- Bake the cookies at 180C/350F for about 12 minutes depending on your oven. They should have a slight tan at the edges, but not get dark.
- Let the cookies cool down. You can use the remaining heat from the oven to warm up your jam in the meantime.
- Fill the holes of the cookies with jam and let it set again.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Notes
- You can easily swap out the butter for vegan butter.
- You could also make these with cocoa powder. I would swap about 25g of the flour with cocoa powder.
- You can also fill these with melted chocolate, but I think the jam is a better combination.
- If you want to make them smaller, you should also adjust the baking time as they will need less time to bake and we don’t want burnt cookies.
You May Also Like
Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies Like from Levain Bakery
Chocolate Tiramisu Swiss Roll with Berries
