Finnish Teaspoon Cookies (Lusikkaleivät)
A teaspoon makes all of the difference.
Cookies are the crown jewels of the holiday season. Sugared and iced in a dazzling array of colorful glittery delights, it makes the darkest days of the year bright with buttery, vanilla-scented joy. And while you may stick to your tried and true mainstays, take a chance with these Finnish Teaspoon Cookies called Lusikkaleivät. A brown-butter vanilla-infused cookie is shaped with a household spoon, baked, and then sandwiched with cheerfully merry red jam. With a round appearance, these cookies are as shiny as a Christmas ornament.
Lusikkaleiväts are the best sort of holiday cookie to add to your holiday dessert tray this year. These cookies taste better days after they’re baked, meaning they’re perfect for giving on a platter or mailing in a tin.
Each ingredient is carefully utilized. Case and point — developing caramelized notes with lusciously nutty brown butter.
Browning the butter isn’t a step to skip. This process removes excess water which is needed for a hearty, holiday tin cookie. The browning step also concentrates the flavors of the remaining milk and fat, making for a complex and rich-tasting cookie.
Once the butter is browned, set it aside to get to a warm, but not hot, temperature. This should only take about fifteen to twenty minutes.
When cooled down, beat the browned butter and sugar together. Next, add the vanilla and egg yolk. You may think that three teaspoons is a lot of vanilla, but these cookies pack a flavorful punch, trust the process!
Once the dry ingredients are added, the dough will look pretty thick.
To shape the cookies, use a spoon as the mold, pressing the dough into the spoon’s concave cavity. Flatten the dough and remove any excess dough if necessary, creating a smooth, leveled cookie.
Many recipes call for tapping the spoon on the side of the bowl to remove the dough from the spoon, but simply sliding the dough from the spoon with your fingers is an easier removal method. These cookies don’t spread too much, but they still require some breathing room between each cookie. Bake only for eight to ten minutes max. After you remove them from the oven, they’ll continue to bake on the cookie sheet.
Now comes the fun part of assembling! Take one cookie and spread the jam onto the flat side, sandwiching the other side with another cookie. Don’t put too much jam in between the cookies, or else the cookies won’t sandwich together.
To get the ultimate texture, refrigerate to firm up and then serve.
The jam is absorbed slightly into the cookies and they get a divine flavor! These small cookies look simple, but they pack tons of flavor and have a great texture. They’re so good that they’ll become apart of your baking tradition each and every year.
Finnish Teaspoon Cookies (Lusikkaleivät)
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk, room temperature
Preparation
- In a saucepan, melt butter on a medium-low heat until it turns a golden amber color and has a toasty, nutty aroma. Pour into a heat-safe bowl and let it cool until it is slightly warm.
- While the butter is cooling, preheat the oven to 325°F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt, set aside.
- In another bowl beat the now-warm butter with sugar until it’s combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Beat in vanilla extract, egg, and egg yolk.
- On a low speed gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet until the flour isn’t visible.
- To shape the cookies, press a small portion of dough into a spoon, flattening off the dough at the top and removing any excess dough.
- To remove the dough from the spoon, use your fingers to slide the cookies off the spoon.
- Place the cookies flat side down on the cookie sheet with the rounded side facing up.
- Bake until barely brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet.
- Once cooled, sandwich two of the cookies with jam. To prevent the cookies from sliding, refrigerate the cookies for 30 to 60 minutes is firm up their shape. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Adamant Kitchen.