'Spitzbuben' translates into something like 'cheeky lads', I have no idea who came up with it and why, but I loved them growing up and am delighted that my kids can now enjoy a plant based version, entirely free of refined sugar. The homemade chia jam is best made the night before and tastes equally great in a peanut butter and jam sandwich or mixed into porridge!
What you need:
For the cookies:
Cookie cutter of choice, best not too big and round-ish
(for half the cookies you’ll need something to make a hole in the middle, I used a bottle lid which seemed about the right size)
70g ground almonds
70g wholemeal or spelt flour
30-40g date sugar – depending on how sweet a tooth you have
1 heaped tbsp coconut oil – melted
100ml plant milk of choice, I used oat milk, if you like it a little sweeter use rice milk
Half a tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
For the jam: (best made the night before)
100g frozen raspberries – defrosted
2 tbsp date- or maple syrup
1 tbsp chia seeds
How you do it:
Preheat your oven at gas mark 5 (190C).
For the chia jam mash the defrosted raspberries with a fork until you get a smooth puree (don’t worry about the little raspberry seeds, they create a nice texture).
Add date/maple syrup and chia seeds, give a good stir, cover and chill over night for it to set.
Alternatively you can warm up the raspberries in a pan, before mashing them and adding the syrup and chia seeds.
This speeds up the jellifying effect of the chia seeds, but it will still need to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.
For the cookies mix all dry ingredients before adding vanilla extract, melted coconut oil and plant milk.
The dough shouldn’t be too wet as this makes the cutting process harder, so don’t pour in all plant milk at once, you might find that you need a little less.
Chill in the fridge for half an hour (or 10mins in the freezer) before rolling it out with a rolling pin (this works best if you cover it with a sheet of baking paper to avoid the rolling pin from sticking to the dough).
Aim for a thickness of about 5mm.
Start cutting out the cookies with your cookie cutter, cutting out a whole in the middle of half of them.
Roll out leftovers as many times as needed until no dough is left.
On a lined baking tray bake your cookies for 15-20 minutes until firm and lightly browned.
Let them cool down, spread the jam on the the whole halves and put the other half on top. Enjoy!
