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Eerily crumbly, nutty and fruity at the same time taste these angel eyes cookies, also known as jam thumbprint cookies or hussar doughnuts. In Germany, they are among the classics of Christmas baking. The pastry is easy and quick to make. You can find a detailed vegan angel eyes cookies recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.
What are angel eyes cookies?
Angel eyes cookies are small spherical shortbread cookies of Austrian cuisine filled with jam or fruit jelly. They are also called jam thumbprint cookies or hussar doughnuts.
Classically, the shortbread is made with butter, egg yolks, sugar and flour. Sometimes ground nuts are added. The jam filling looks like an eye in each cookie.
The jam thumbprint cookies are also in Germany next to vanilla crescents and Linzer cookies to the sweet classics par excellence and should not be missing on any cookie plate.
Vegan angel eyes cookies
The angel eyes cookies succeed you vegan at least as delicious as the classic cookies. My jam thumbprint cookies do not contain eggs, butter and other animal products.
For vegan hussar doughnuts you simply omit egg yolk. Without egg, the cookies get even a fluffier consistency. Replace animal butter with vegan butter or margarine.
Which jam for hussar doughnuts?
Any jam will work for the hussar doughnuts. I filled the cookies with homemade blackcurrant jam. Before that, I put it through a sieve to remove all the seeds and skins.
You can just use your favorite jam for the recipe. If the jam is too firm, heat it briefly and then pass it through a sieve.
After baking, I topped the angel eyes cookies with the remaining jam. Because it pulls in the oven something.
More ideas for filling
Besides jam, a homemade fruit jelly is ideal for filling the angel eyes cookies. For example, you can make a raspberry jelly using my recipe for the raspberry cream cheese cake or chocolate heart sandwich cookies.
If you want to try something fancy as a filling for the jam thumbprint cookies, you can use the nut nougat cream, for example. The cookies also taste delicious with a caramel sauce.
Jam thumbprint cookies with or without nuts
I added some ground hazelnuts to the dough for my vegan angel eyes cookies. This gives the cookies a nutty flavor note.
Instead of hazelnuts, almonds also fit very well for this. You can just as easily use any ground nuts instead. Experiment with peanuts or walnuts, for example.
But you can also make the jam thumbprint cookies without nuts. In this case, replace the amount of hazelnuts in the recipe with the same amount of flour.
With or without starch
Starch makes cookies especially tender, like the snowflake cookies or vegan spritz cookies. The hussar doughnuts also taste even fluffier with a little starch, which I used to replace a small portion of flour. They practically melt in your mouth.
I used cornstarch for the cookie dough. However, potato starch will work instead.
If you want to make the jam thumbprint cookies without starch, replace it in the recipe with the same amount of flour. Instead of 200 grams of flour, you need 220 grams of flour without cornstarch.
Knead cookie dough correctly
In the angel eyes cookies recipe, it is important to knead the dough not too long, but not much too short either.
After adding butter or margarine to the dry flour mixture, at first you will get the feeling that the mixture is too dry. You should keep kneading it without adding more butter or any other liquid ingredients. Do it quickly though, so the butter doesn’t melt from the heat of your hands. Gradually you will get a soft dough that can be formed into a ball.
So once all the ingredients have combined into a reasonably malleable dough, stop kneading. You shouldn’t knead the finished dough much longer. Otherwise, your jam thumbprint cookies might taste tough and not tender after baking.
For cookie platters or as Christmas gift
Angel eyes cookies are simply a classic in Christmas baking. Along with cinnamon stars, speculoos cookies, Dominosteine, they are a must on the cookie plate during Advent.
The hussar doughnuts are also an ideal homemade Christmas gift from the kitchen, which passes as a “last minute” gift. It is also suitable for vegans.
Package the jam thumbprint cookies along with such treats as the marzipan potatoes, chocolate pine cone cookies and orange cookies in a pretty cookie tin and surprise your sweet tooth with them on Christmas Eve.
These hussar doughnuts are
- crumbly,
- tender,
- fluffy,
- nutty,
- fruity,
- incredibly delicious,
- vegan – without butter, egg and other animal ingredients,
- easy and quick to make,
- ideal for the cookie plate at Christmas time,
- perfect for gift giving.
Simple angel eyes cookies recipe
The angel eyes cookies recipe, which you can find below, is very simple. The delicious vegan cookies you conjure up in no time on the dining table. You only need a few ingredients.
First, you knead all the ingredients into a shortbread dough, which you let cool thoroughly.
Then you form small balls from the dough, make mini cavities in them and fill them with jam of your choice.
Now you just have to bake the cookies in the oven for about 10 – 15 minutes.
How to make jam thumbprint cookies: tips and tricks
- You can adjust the amount of sugar for the dough according to your taste.
- You can replace hazelnuts with the same amount of flour if you want to make the cookies without nuts.
- You can replace cornstarch in the recipe with the same amount of flour.
- Do not knead the dough too long so that the cookies taste tender and not chewy later. Once all the ingredients have combined into a homogeneous mass, you should stop kneading. To do this, follow my notes above.
- If your jam is too solid, you can heat it very briefly to make it more liquid.
- You can add more jam to the cookies after they are baked, as it will soak in a bit in the oven. Do it while the cookies are still warm, then the jam will dry quickly.
- After the cookies have cooled, you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar.
Did you make angel eyes cookies using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your results, your star rating and your comment here below on how you liked and succeeded with the hussar doughnuts.
Looking for more sweet Christmas recipes? Try:
- Quark stollen recipe – how to make moist no yeast stollen
- Goose feet cookies – Russian cottage cheese cookies
- Winter hat cake – recipe for fancy knit hat cake
Angel eyes cookies / jam thumbprint cookies / hussar doughnuts
Equipment
- wooden cooking spoon
Ingredients
- 150 g vegan margarine cold
- 80 g hazelnuts ground
- 80 g sugar**
- 20 g cornstarch**
- 200 g flour**
- 8 g vanilla sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
for the filling
- approx. 70 g jam (passed through a sieve)
Instructions
- Mix flour, hazelnuts, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla sugar and salt.
- Add cold margarine cut into pieces and quickly knead into a soft dough. Cover the dough and chill for 1 hour.
- Form small balls (about 15 g each in my case) from the dough and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- With the help of a wooden spoon handle, press hollows into the dough balls.
- Using a teaspoon or piping bag, fill the hollows with jam.
- Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for approx. 13 minutes.
- If necessary, fill the cookie hollows with the remaining jam while they are still warm.
Notes
- The amount of sugar for the dough can be adjusted to taste.
- Hazelnuts can be replaced with the same amount of flour if you want to make the cookies without nuts.
- Cornstarch can be replaced with the same amount of flour.
- Do not knead the dough too long, so that the cookies later taste tender and not chewy. Once all the ingredients have combined into a homogeneous mass, stop kneading.
- If the jam is too solid, you can warm it very briefly to make it more liquid.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the vegan angel eyes cookies at the top of the post.
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