A slice of Danish teatime (Great Dane-ish Bakes, Part One – Hindbærsnitter)

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Okay, so you all must have guessed by now that I love Danish food.  I’ve got a series of posts on Danish comfort foods, plus another on Danish pastries/wienerbrød.  And now I’m starting a new one.  Great Dane-ish baked treats!  Woop, woop! 🙂

Today we start with…hindbærsnitter!  Literally “raspberry slices”.  We have a similar thing in Scotland called German (or Empire) biscuits.  Basically it’s two slices of shortbread, sandwiched with raspberry jam, then lots of lovely, lovely white icing on the top.  Here are some hindbærsnitter that we made ourselves.  Exhibit A.

And this is one we bought from the bakers.  Exhibit B.

They’re easy, peasy, lemon squeezy to make.  Ready to make them?  You’ll need:

  • 350g plain flour (12 oz)

  • 200g butter (7 oz) (be warned – margarine will NOT work!)

  • 150 g sugar (5 oz)

  • 1 egg

  • raspberry jam

  • icing sugar

  • sprinkles or, as I used, freeze-dried raspberries 

First of all, tip the flour and butter into a bowl.  Mash it together with a knife or a fork.

It should start to look like breadcrumbs.

Then add your sugar and egg, and work them in – the mixture will change colour slightly.

Use your hands to bring it into a ball.

Put the ball of dough into a plastic bag and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes (because we don’t want the dough to be too soft).

When it’s firmed up, roll it out between two sheets of baking paper – that way, it won’t stick to your rolling pin 😉  You’re aiming for a long log of dough.  Make sure it’s rolled out fairly thin.

Let the spreading begin!  Spread raspberry jam over the bottom half of your log.

Flip the top half over the bottom half, so you can’t see the jam.  Use the baking paper to help you, as it will be very floppy at this stage!

Use a fork or knife to squish down the top half to the bottom half.  We need to seal in the jam, so that it doesn’t leak out while cooking.  (Been there, done that…)

Bake in the oven at 175C (350f) for about 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on it!  You want it just turning a pale golden colour, not dark.  And then let it cool off…  Before thoroughly smothering it with white icing and your choice of topping.

Who wants to lick the bowl?  Me, me, me! 😛

Then it’s time to put the kettle on, cut some nice slices, round up your friends or family and dig in. Velbekomme!  Bon appétit!

Diane 🙂