Swedish sweets: Hallongrottor

I'll be honest. I wasn't planning on making a post about "Hallongrottor".

No, I was actually at the grocery store and had just picked up a 4-pack of these little raspberry jam-filled shortbread to enjoy with my afternoon cup of coffee. But, something compelled me to look at the ingredients list.

Vetemjöl, socker, veg.fett, smör, hallon (5%), vatten, ägg, glukossirap, skummjölkpulver, salt, bakpulver; E450 och E500, förtjockningsmedel; pektin, antioxidationsmedel; E333, E331, E330, aromämnen; vanilj, konserveringsmedel; E202, emulgeringsmedel; E471, färgämne; E160a

Now, that's in Swedish but I'm sure you still get the picture. I mean, I knew that these things, at most, required about 6 ingredients...

So, much to my 2 year-old's consternation, I put the box back on the shelf.

Safely back at home I got out the following:



1/2 cup of sugar, a little less than 2 sticks (7/8ths of a cup or 200 grams) of butter, 1/3-1/2 vanilla pod + 1 tsp sugar (my substitue for vanilla sugar), 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder and raspberry jam

Start by mixing your dry ingredients together.



Cut your butter into chunks and add them to the dry ingredients.



Mix. A food processor works great but so do your fingers. (Your fingers are probably easier to wash, too.)



Roll into a loaf...



... and cut the loaf into even slices. Roll each slice into a walnut-sized ball and place in a small cupcake form.





Using your thumb, make a depression in each ball:



Fill each depression with about a teaspoon of raspberry jam.





Bake at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until browned.







Rich, buttery and delicious! And with a much more palatable ingredients list.

Sometimes less truly is more.

For the recipe index.

"Hallongrottor"/Raspberry jam-filled shortbreads

1/2 cup of sugar
a little less than 2 sticks (7/8ths of a cup or 200 grams) of butter
1/3-1/2 vanilla pod + 1 tsp sugar (or 1 tsp of vanilla sugar)
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
raspberry jam

Start by mixing your dry ingredients together.Cut your butter into chunks and add them to the dry ingredients. Mix until the ingredients come together into a dough.

Roll into a loaf and cut the loaf into even slices. Roll each slice into a walnut-sized ball and place in a small cupcake form. Using your thumb, make a depression in each ball. Fill each depression with about a teaspoon of raspberry jam.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until browned.

Very pretty. These are usually called "thumbprint" cookies in the U.S.

Lovely. I have never seen them made in little paper cups like that. I have also seen them sprinkled with a mixture of finely chopped walnuts and sugar or just sugar. Or powdered sugar after they are done.

I think I'll be adding these to my Christmas cookie list. Thanks for this! Pie Mama will love em!

Thank you two for digging this post up!

I just returned from celebrating Midsommar on the Swedish/Baltic island Gotland. While it's still too early for raspberries, we brought back 15 quarts of strawberries (countless others were consumed), about a pound of elderflowers and a few pounds of the last of this year's asparagus.

Perhaps these could be made with strawberry jam (and served with elderflower cordials)?

Perhaps these could be made with strawberry jam (and served with elderflower cordials)?

Only one way to find out...