Spitzbuben Cookies

Pastry:

1. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and vanilla sugar/vanilla extract in the food processor or stand mixer. Pulse to mix. 375 g all-purpose flour/ 3 cups + 1 teaspoon baking powder + 200 g granulated sugar/ 1 cup + 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2. Add the cold butter pieces, egg white, ground almonds, and pulse until you obtain a crumbly mixture.250 g unsalted butter/ 1 cup + 1 egg white + 125 g ground almonds/ 1¼ cups
3. Refrigerate: Turn pastry onto the working surface, press briefly to form a disc, wrap in plastic wrap/cling film, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Cut pastry: Divide the dough in two. Sprinkle a little flour on the working surface and roll half the dough about 4 mm/0.15 inch thick. Place the rest of the pastry in the fridge. Cut out stars using a star cutter with a diameter of about 6 cm/ 2.5 inches. Place half of these stars on the baking sheet.Use another smaller star cutter (or a piping nozzle) to cut another little star in the middle of the remaining stars.
6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden. Take out of the oven, let sit on the tray for about 5-10 minutes to set slightly. Transfer to wire racks and leave to cool completely.
7. Second batch: In the meantime, roll and cut the rest of the pastry. Repeat the process until all the pastry is used.

Icing:

1. Mix: When all the cookies are completely cool, mix the icing sugar with one or two tablespoons of lemon juice to obtain a thick paste.100 g icing sugar/ 1 cup + 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2. Decorate: Either spread this paste on the perforated cookies or place the paste into a small piping bag and mark the edges of the cookies. Sprinkle with some granulated sugar and leave to dry out well.some granulated sugar

Filling:

1. Heat jam: If using chunky jam, blend until smooth. When the cookies are dry, place the jam or jelly in a small pan and heat up a little bit.150 g jam/ jelly of choice/ ⅔ cup
2. Fill with jam: Brush the whole stars with a thin layer of jam, place a perforated star on top, and press gently. Fill the hole of the star with some more jam and leave to set.