Herzplätzchen

Ingredients

• 200 g soft butter
• 80 g sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 20 ml cognac
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 300 g flour
• 5 tbsp apricot jam
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp Lemon juice
• red food coloring

Instructions

1. 1.

   Beat butter with sugar, salt and vanilla sugar until creamy. Mix in egg yolk, cognac and nutmeg, then fold in the flour; shape into 2 balls and refrigerate covered for at least 2 hours.

2. 2.

   Roll each ball between parchment paper to a thickness of 3–4 mm, cut out heart‑shaped cookies (≈3.5 cm diameter) with a cookie cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C (middle rack) for 10–12 minutes until golden yellow.

3. 3.

   Let the cookies cool briefly on the tray, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

4. 4.

   Warm jam in a small saucepan, spread over half of the cookies and top with the remaining cookies.

5. 5.

   Whisk powdered sugar with lemon juice into a smooth glaze. Take a bit of white glaze, color the rest with food coloring, brush onto the cookies and let dry. Store leftover glaze in a freezer bag, cut a corner and use to decorate the cookies.