In German these cookies are called Heidesand. They are traditional Christmas cookies but you can find them all year round today. This recipe is easy and perfect.
Heidesand is a short cake, a tea cookie made of short pastry. In North Germany they are traditionally served during Christmas time.
The ingredients are simple: just flour, butter and sugar. As I eat only the gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free versions of everything. I tried my own version and I liked it very much. The cookies are exactly as I remember them: very short, friable and smooth in the taste.
The key-ingredient is the butter – in this case the ghee. You need to melt and let it brown a little bit. Then let the ghee cool out and use it for the dough. That gives the cookies a special taste.
I kneaded the cookie dough with my hand as I think with the warmth of the hand the ghee incorporates better than with a cold hook. But that is something everyone has to do as he/she likes. Like all short pastry it has to be in a cool place for an hour or so before getting the shape you want and baked. I prepared in advance two sausages, so I could cut them later in slices and bake.
If you like you can roll the slices one by one in granulated sugar (I used Xylitol) before baking, or also afterwards. I didn’t do.
My cookies are three different versions: one patch with Goji berries and grounded pistachios, one with only vanilla and one half vanilla, half chocolate (I used cacao).
In an air-tide container they could survive until Christmas if you make them early. I say could because they are too good to stay long.
Let’s cookie!
- 120 g ghee
- 100 g all purpose paleo flour
- 150 g almond flour or meal
- 50 g Xylitol
- 1/2 tsp backing powder
- 1 fresh ground lemon zest
- In a pan melt the ghee, let it lightly brown and let it cool.
- Put all the other ingredients in a bowl, add the melted butter and combine all the together. Form two rolls/sausages of 4 cm diameter, wrap them in a plastic foil and let them cool in a cold place for around one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F.
- Now take the cookie dough rolls out of the fridge, take away the plastic wrap and cut the rolls in slices of half a centimeter/0.4 inches.
- Place the slices on a baking tray with parchment paper and in the oven for around 10 - 12 minutes. Check the color, they have to be golden.
- Take them out of the oven and let them cool out on a cooling rack.
- Store them in an air-tide container.
You can make them also with chocolate, or nuts, or what ever you like.
They can be stored for weeks in an air-tide container.
