tebirkes cookies
soft, marzipan-stuffed sugar cookies rolled in poppyseeds, inspired by the danish pastry
every december, cookies are the number one thing on my mind. i grew up in a place that treasured the act of baking and swapping cookies every holiday season, and i now live in a place that arguably does the exact same thing. i bake lots of cookies yes, but i also hunt for the best (or at least my favorite) elisenlebkuchen and buy as many packages as i can before they’re sold out; this could happen as early as october or november, and i learned the hard way that if you snooze you lose, there is no restock.
anyway, back to cookies more broadly. i had a few ideas i was tinkering around with to develop and publish, but didn’t feel entirely inspired by them. i was halfheartedly doing some more research and drafting out half baked recipes, when
shared her tebirkes inspired scone and lightning stuck. a tebirkes inspired cookie that swaps buttery flaky pastry for buttery sweet cookie dough would be amazing and be a mild, easy to make addition to any cookie box or a fun anytime treat.if you’re unfamiliar with tebirkes, they’re delicious danish pastries made with laminated dough filled with marzipan or some kind of almond filling, then generously coated in poppyseeds. they’re very common in cities with great bakeries like denmarks’ copenhagen of course, but they also make and sell them at sofi here in berlin, filled with a miso remonce that leans a bit more heavily into savory than sweet. it’s popular to slice open the pastry and use it to sandwich a piece of cheese, another way to play up the sweet and savory aspects of this combination, which i can’t say i personally recommend (with a normal tebirkes or these cookies), but if that intrigues you it may be worth a try.
to develop the tebirkes cookie (or tebirk-ookie?), i decided to start with a very simple, soft sugar cookie base. my main question was how to integrate the marzipan. in my mind, i had a few options: swap out some of the sugar with marzipan and whip it up with the butter directly into the dough, add small pieces of marzipan to the finished dough, wrap the cookie dough around some marzipan or make a separate remonce filling (basically more butter and sugar with marzipan) and use that in the center.
while i liked the idea of beating the marzipan and using some of it as the base, i felt that sandwiching a thin layer of marzipan between the dough would be more fitting, allowing for a distinct layer of marzipan to shine. it also happened to be one of the easiest methods to pull off, which is just about always welcome when it comes to recipe development.
i did have to play around quite a bit with how much marzipan to use in the center, testing 10 grams, 8 grams and 5 grams, the best way to fill the cookies (a ball of marzipan or a flattened coin?) and of course how to finish them. with the finishing, i decided to keep things simple (and iconic!) and roll them in poppyseeds so they’d be as recognizable as tebirkes. i also tested some with toasted flaked almonds on the bottom of the cookie, and enjoyed that too, sort of a hidden surprise that adds even more nutty almond flavor and texture.
these are really simple cookies to pull off, the most difficult thing is going to be filling them with the marzipan, but i find it a rather meditative process once you get the hang of it. the marzipan i used didn’t really change its shape in the oven, so it was important to keep the layer quite flat in order to get flat cookies with no large bulge in the center that will have marzipan in every bite. you might want to fill and bake a few first to see how your marzipan handles the heat and how thick or thin it needs to be, but i think my method below should be pretty foolproof.
this time last year:
french onion soup with kimchi and cheesy ramen "croutons"
a few months ago, chef hanz gueco of paris’ le cheval d’or had a pop-up at café frieda, one of my go-to special occasion restaurants here in berlin. i didn’t get the chance to go; fomo ensued. looking at the menu only made it worse, but i couldn’t help myself—dry aged beef with hong kong and paris-style pepper sauce and tofu “frites”, cockles with xo sa…
tebirkes cookies
makes 20 cookies
150 grams granulated sugar
100 grams brown sugar
225 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tsp almond extract)
1 large or medium egg, room temperature
1 lemon
280 grams all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
50 grams poppyseeds
50 grams toasted, flaked almonds (optional)
100 grams marzipan (about 5 grams per cookie)
preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. add 150 grams granulated sugar, 100 grams brown sugar and 225 grams room temperature unsalted butter to the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until the mixture is smooth, lightened in color and fluffy, about 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the mixer and the paddle halfway through; if you don’t have a stand mixer, use a hand mixer with beaters and a large bowl. add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract) and 1 room temperature large or medium egg to the mixture, then use a microplane to zest the rind of 1 lemon into it as well. mix to combine, about 1 minute.
add 280 grams all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds. use an ice cream scoop (mine is 5 cm / 2 inches about 1.5 ounce portions) to scoop all the dough into balls, placing them onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet or plate.
add 50 grams poppyseeds and 50 grams toasted, flaked almonds (if using) to separate small bowls. pinch off or cut 100 grams marzipan into about 5 gram pieces. roll each piece into a ball then press into a flat coin, about 3,8 cm/1 1/2 inches in diameter. split a ball of dough in half with your fingers, and press one side into your palm. top it with a piece of flattened marzipan and the other half of dough, then use your fingers and palm to coax the dough over the marzipan so it’s in the center, surrounded by dough. roll back into a ball, then roll the “top” in poppyseeds and the “bottom” in toasted flaked almonds, if using; you can also roll all over it in poppyseeds only. the video below shows this more clearly, sorry for the sound lol.
at this point you can cover and refrigerate the cookies for up to 3 days, freeze for up to 3 months (i freeze them on a plate, then pluck them off and transfer to a freezer bag once they’re fully frozen) or transfer the ones you want to bake to a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving at least two inches between each cookie. bake at 180°C/350°F for 10 minutes (from frozen for 12 minutes), until the edges of the cookies are just turning golden brown; better slightly under baked than over baked here, so look for set, lightly golden brown edges and a still greasy looking, puffed center as your indicator to remove.
allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. like most cookies, they’ll be best the day they’re baked, but will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
