Joulutorttu: Finnish plum tarts

Today Eva, author of Bake-Street, takes us to the Nordic countries with cookies that will make you fall in love: made with a soft dough and filled with plum jam, they are ideal to accompany afternoon tea or coffee... Or to start the day with a smile!

If there's something that fascinates me it's spices and, among them, one of my favorites is cardamom; I think that's one of the reasons I have a devotion to Nordic baking.

The cookies I bring you today are without a doubt a true delight for the palate, very aromatic, soft and with a delicate yet crunchy texture. Joulutorttu can be made with Danish pastry, a dough very similar to puff pastry flavored with cardamom, or with a sablée-type dough made with crème fraîche, giving it great softness.

They are commonly eaten at Christmas; in fact the translation of their name is “Christmas tart” also called Tähtitorttu “star tart”, but I have always thought recipes shouldn't be pigeonholed since if they are so extraordinarily delicious the good thing is to be able to enjoy them whenever we want.

Traditionally they are filled with a plum paste flavored with spices, and after baking they are dusted with icing sugar. In my case I kept the filling because I can assure you it is wonderful, but for those who are not very fond of this fruit you can change the filling for a jam you like such as orange, blackberry, apricot, apple… For decoration I chose to use pearl sugar but you can always omit it and finish them with icing sugar if you prefer.

To bake them I used the perforated tray and the Buyer silpat which allow an even distribution of heat across the surface resulting in a crunchy texture and preventing the base from browning too much.

The recipe is inspired by one from Signe Johansen, who suggests this variation in the dough and it is undoubtedly a great choice.

INGREDIENTS (for 28-30 cookies)

For the dough:

• 110 g cold unsalted butter
• 110 g granulated white sugar
• 250 g wheat flour for baking
• 11 g baking powder
• 75 g créme fraîche
• 1 egg yolk L
• a pinch of salt (between 1 and 2 g)
• 8 cardamom pods

For the filling:

• 100 g prunes
• juice and zest of one orange
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 clove
• 4 cardamom pods
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon dark muscovado sugar

To decorate:

• 1 beaten egg
• pearl sugar
• demerara sugar

METHOD:

Prepare the dough for the cookies.

1. In a mortar crush the cardamom pods, remove the husks and grind the seeds to release the aromas. Set aside.
2. In a bowl add the flour together with the pinch of salt. Grate the cold butter to make it easier to incorporate with the flour. Begin mixing both ingredients with your fingertips until you obtain a sandy mixture. Add the sugar and baking powder. Mix again to homogenize the ingredients.
3. Add the créme fraîche together with the egg yolk and mix until you obtain a compact dough.
4. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and begin the fraisage. This technique will help integrate the ingredients well without overworking the dough, thus avoiding gluten development and preventing it from deforming during baking.
5. To do this, place the dough on a work surface and slide the base of your hand or palm over it, pushing it forward. Gather the dough and repeat this step; continue until the dough is blended. You will combine the ingredients without overworking it, achieving a crunchy texture after baking.
6. Form a disk with the dough, cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour; you can leave it overnight if desired.

Prepare the filling.

1. In a saucepan add the chopped prunes together with the orange juice and zest, the lemon juice, the sugar and the spices. Place over medium-low heat and stir with a spoon to help slightly break down the prunes until you obtain a smooth purée.
2. You should obtain a spreadable texture; if you see it has dried too much on the heat and the texture is very dense, you can add a little more orange juice or water, as you prefer, to soften it. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

Form the cookies.

1. Take the dough out of the fridge and to help roll it out without sticking to the work surface or the rolling pin, do it between two sheets of baking paper. Roll it to a thickness of about 3mm; you can use an adjustable rolling pin.

2. Once you have rolled the dough, return it to the fridge for about 30 minutes. It is very important to work with very cold dough because otherwise it will be difficult to handle and it will lose its shape easily.

Buyer perforated tray and silpat

3. Cut squares with a 5.5 cm side cutter. Remember that the colder the dough, the cleaner and more perfect the cuts will be and the better you will be able to unmold them.

4. Place the cookies you cut onto a perforated tray lined with baking paper. Once all the cookies are cut, refrigerate them again for 30 minutes.

5. After this time take them out of the fridge and proceed to fill them and give them their final shape.

6. With the help of a sharp knife make four cuts from the corners toward the center, but without cutting all the way to the center so the cookie can remain joined. Place a small amount of the plum purée in the middle and proceed to shape it like a pinwheel.

7. Bring the points created by the cuts to the center alternating them, so you create a windmill. To seal the dough and help it keep its shape, gently press the junction of all of them. Repeat the process with the remaining cookies.

8. Refrigerate another 30 minutes before baking.

9. Preheat the oven to 180º C with top and bottom heat.

10. Prepare the perforated tray and place the Buyer silpat on it.

11. Take the cookies out of the fridge, brush with beaten egg, decorate the center with pearl sugar and sprinkle the surface with demerara sugar. This type of sugar remains intact after baking without melting on the cookies.

MasterClass baguette board

12. Transfer to the tray with the silpat and place in the oven at mid-height for 10-12 minutes or until they acquire a slight golden color. Remove and transfer the silpat with the cookies onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely before handling them; they are very delicate and could break.

13. Now all that's left is to prepare a good tea or coffee and enjoy these exquisite cookies.