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Perfect shortbread German Terrassen Kekse Christmas cookies with raspberry jam!
Talk about festive season..without a cookie recipe?! In what world would this happen? Not in mine 🙂 Although I am not posting that many cookie recipes I am eating them like no tomorrow .
I promise, I’ll share more..not just eat.
My favorite cookies are German Christmas cookies (Weihnachtsplätzchen)!
Homemade, received or bought, I cannot stop from eating them. How could I??? Each cookie type tastes different and there is always something particularly delicious about each and every type. Stollen, Lebkuchen, spritz cookies, macaroons, Zimtsterne, Vanillekipferl and the list can go on and on…the number of recipes for German Christmas cookies is crazy!
German Christmas cookies are made from different types of doughs with various spices like cinnamon, gloves, cardamon, orange and lemon peels, rum and vanilla. Decorated with sugar and chocolate sprinkles, nuts, almonds, or completely covered with chocolate, these cookies are to die for!
My favorite are Terrassen Kekse cookies! Perfect shortbread cookie stack glued with raspberry jam and powdered with confectioners sugar. Perfect bite sized, these cookies will melt in your mouth. Not to mention are so easy to make, your kids can help too. You will only need a stack cut-out fondant cookie cutters
These Terrassen Kekse cookies are perfect Christmas gifts. I like to wrap them in a large cellophane sheet, place them in decorative boxes and surprise my friends and neighbors. Everyone one loves them…even my husband and he doesn’t have a sweet tooth 🙂
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 stick butter cold, grated to make butter flakes
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
- raspberry jelly/ jam without seed
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar for dusting
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In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together flour, butter flakes, sugar, vanilla essence and egg yolks. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together.
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Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic foil and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
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Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C.
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Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick and cut about 40 cookies in 3 sizes. Place all the cookies on an baking sheet lined tray and bake for about 8-10 minutes until they get light yellow. Remove from oven and allow to cool down.
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Stir raspberry jelly/ jam smooth and spread on the bottoms of the large and medium sized cookies. Place the medium cookie on top of the large one and then the small one to have 3 terrassen cookie Dust with powder sugar
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Enjoy!
Those cookies are absolutely gorgeous — they look so dainty. They would be perfect on a dessert tray. Great recipe and great photos!!
These cookies are simply spectacular! love your photos too.
I love how easy sugar cookies are to make with fun shapes, but they are too sweet for my taste. Shortbread sounds like the perfect way to enjoy cut-out cookies. The way you stacked them with jam looks so yummy and festive!!! I love your blog every time I visit:)
Thank you so much Leslie!!!!
Who could resist those? Look at the color!
These look and sound amazing!! So pretty.
What a beautiful cookie! So elegant and festive!
These are SO beautiful!!! Amazing! I love new cookie recipes and these are going on my to-do list! Perfect for my cookie gifts this year!
How cute are these! Some of the best cookies come from Germany… I may have to take a trip there!
These cookies are the epitome of perfect, they look delicious and SO festive!
Oh, how very pretty. I’m loving all these festive cookies. I’ve only made one batch so far and haven’t got around to posting them yet.
These are almost to pretty to eat! But alas, I know I wouldn’t be able to resist because this recipe sounds so yummy!
These classic kekse cookies are beyond beautiful; fantastic job with this post!
Hahaha! We are all eating too many cookies . I just finished two lemon cookies while writing this comment. 😛 These cookies are so beautiful. Never thought of stacking them up like these. Fun! And raspberry is exactly what I like! YUM!
I followed this recipe to the letter and the dough is way too crumbly and will not work. The only thing I can think of is your one stick of butter is not the same as mine. Could you clarify the butter in terms of cups? I really want to make these yummy cookies!
Hi Jill, sorry to hear this. I have used 1 stick = 113 G/ 4 oz/ 8 tablespoons. I think the flour might be different. I would add 1 teaspoon water just to get it together if it is so crumbly. Please let me know how they came up. Fingers crossed!
what do you mean by butter flakes? should I grate cold butter into flakes, or cut it into small cubes that are soft when I start mixing? Can I cream the butter and sugar first like you do with many other cookie recipes? I can’t wait to make these, but i got a bit flummoxed by that bit of direction. (I just got chestnut jam when in France and I think these will be great with either raspberry or chestnut). Thanks!!!
Hi Patty, I usually have the butter stick really cold (sometimes I leave it for 30 minutes in the freezer) and have it grated. Sorry for not being really specific in my directions. Will change those right now so would be clear for everyone. Hope you’ll love them!! I have already done 2 batches this year!