Gevulde koek

Gevulde koek” (literally stuffed cookie). These come from the south of the Netherlands and include “amandelspijs”. There they are also called “gevuld heertje”. “Amandelspijs” contains almonds, and is the foundation for many Dutch pastries.

Ingredients

4 pieces

Amandelspijs

– 150 grams of almond flour

– 150 grams of white granulated sugar

– 1 egg

– 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Gevulde koek

– 200 grams amandelspijs (almond paste)

– 100 grams of dairy butter

– 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

– 50 grams of white caster sugar

– 150 grams of all-purpose flour

– 6 grams of baking powder

– 1,5 grams of salt

– 1 egg

Garnish

– 24 whole almonds

– 1 egg

Preparation

Amandelspijs

• 1) First pour 150 grams of almond flour and 150 grams of white granulated sugar into a big bowl and mix these together with a beater.
• 2) Then beat 1 egg and add it to the mixture. Mix the ingredients together until the egg is absorbed.
• 3) Now add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest and mix again.
• 4) Mix until the mixture turns into a solid mass.
• 5) Now place a large piece of plastic wrap on the work bench. Wrap up the amandelspijs and place it in the fridge to rest for at least 12 hours. The longer it rests, the tastier it will become.

Gevulde koek

• 6) Start by adding 100 grams butter, 50 grams white castersugar and 1 teaspoon lemon zest to a big bowl. Knead these ingredients until the sugar is dissolved into the butter. Then knead a ball shape.
• 7) Now make a small hole in the middle of the mixture. Whisk 1 egg in a small bowl to make it loose. Then pour only half of the egg in the hole. Knead the egg through the mixture until it’s absorbed.
• 8) Then add 150 grams all-purpose flour and 6 grams baking powder through a sieve. Knead the mixture through the flour until the flour is dissolved (the flour will turn yellow).
• 9) Then knead the mixture until you have a dough. If it’s still sticky, add more flour to it. After it turns solid, flatten it, cover it in plastic and place the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
• 10) In the meantime, prepare the amandelspijs by taking it out of the fridge and knead it. It should be a bit grainy but not too much. Add the remainder of the egg and knead it further to make it less dry.
• 11) After the dough has rested for 1 hour, take it out of the fridge. Sprinkle flour on your workbench and knead the dough so it’s a bit more warm and flexible.
• 12) Roll the dough with a rolling pin into a square or rectangle shape, while occasionally fliping the dough over to the other side and spinkling it with some flour. Keep doing this until the dough has a thickness of around 0,5 cm.
• 13) Now it’s time to cut out the cookie shapes. Preferably making use of a serrated cookie cutter with a diameter of around 10 cm. Otherwise a round shaped object. For example, an upside down tea cup will do. Prepare an oven baking tray with baking paper. Then cut out the first 4 pieces and place these on the baking tray. These are the bottom layers of the cookies.
• 14) Place about 30 grams (2 tablespoons) of amandelspijs in the middle of each cookie layer.
• 15) Again, cut out 4 layers and place these on top of the amandelspijs covered layers. Put some pressure on the middle with the hollow part of your hand, so the amandelspijs will cover more surface.
• 16) Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius.

Topping

• 17) Brush the top layer of the cookies with a small amount of egg. This will give them a nice colour during baking.
• 18) Pinch the top layer in with 4 almonds per cookie. Spread them evenly.
• 19) Again brush the top layer with almonds with (raw) egg. Optional: for a prettier result, wait for 15 minutes and repeat the brushing with the egg.

Baking

• 20) Put the cookies in the oven and bake them for about 15 minutes. The cover will have a slight caramel colour. The cookie itself should be crunchy from the outside and soft from the inside.
• 21) Let the cookies (especially the amandelspijs inside) cool down before eating them to avoid burns.

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