Note: This Spitzbuben recipe was originally part of my Biscuit Advent Calendar, a one-recipe-a-day email series in December. You can find the other recipes and sign up for the next round if you want here.

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Today we are making Spitzbuben, literally translated as “little rascals”. They also go by different names such as Hildabrötchen or Linzer. But Spitzbuben is the name I know from my childhood.

These are also about as classical as it gets. So classical, in fact, that there are many acceptable versions: with or without nuts and spice in the dough, with redcurrant jam (the purist’s choice) or any other type of jam.
I like them best with ground almonds. They make the dough tender and aromatic but the nut flavour is gentle.

Below, you see a variation with poppy seeds and raspberry jam.

The dough is a shortbread type so you know the drill by now:
bring it together quickly → chill → roll → chill again.
Shortbread simply behaves better when cold. If the dough starts getting too warm or too soft while you roll or re-roll just place it in the fridge/freezer/cold terrace. I often roll it first and then cool it flattened.
It is a bit stickier than without the nuts so I use two layers of cling film to keep it from sticking to worktop or rolling pin.

You can cut whatever shapes you like, just make sure you have an even number. Traditionally, half of them get a little window cut out, a circle, a star, a heart, so the jam can peek through later. If you have nested cutters (a large star and a tiny star, for example), it’s also very traditional to sandwich a smaller shape on top of a larger one instead of cutting a hole. Both look beautiful in a tin. The nested-shape version is the one that I remember making at home.

A baking sidenote: Shortbread Cheat Sheet

A surprising number of biscuit doughs both here and elsewhere are really just variations of shortbread.
The German formula usually sticks fairly closely to the 1:2:3 ratio of sugar:butter:flour (by weight). This is a great way to sanity check a recipe.
And you can also use it as a basis for your own variations. When it comes to adding nuts into the mix they are counted mostly towards the flour part. See the recipe below: 330 g flour+almonds, 200 g butter, 100 g sugar. Almost a perfect 3:2:1 ratio (this is not a recipe I constructed myself btw).
What’s happening here? You replace some of the flour with nuts and then add about 10% extra nuts on top because nuts aren’t as absorbent as flour.

How far can you push this? Not much further. The more flour you replace, the more the dough loses its scaffolding. Beyond this point, the biscuits become increasingly fragile and crumbly (which can be lovely, but also… structurally adventurous).

What you can add without changing the structure are flavourings: coffee, vanilla, citrus zest, spices… all of these adjust the taste without affecting the dough’s behaviour.
Cocoa powder, however, is a different story. It’s very dry and you need a substantial amount. Therefore, if you add cocoa, you count it toward the “flour part.”
That said (and maybe this is just me but I don’t think so): cocoa in shortbread is often fairly bland. It gives a beautiful colour, yes, but the flavour is a bit thin.
If you really want chocolate taste, I’d add a little melted chocolate to the dough instead and a teensy bit of coffee (if you don’t overdo it, it enhances the chocolate without tasting of coffee). But let’s discuss that another time and finally get down to some baking.

Enjoy!!