These cookies are Christmas for me. My mom, who was born in Czechoslovakia, pronounces the Czech name "su-shen-kee," but to me they're "the ones with the jam in the middle." After cutting the cookies into a shape (bells, hearts, circles and diamonds), we take a thimble and put a hole in the middle of half of them before baking. After the baking, we spread jam on the ones that had no hole and place a "thimbled" one of the same shape on top, to make a sort of "cookie-jelly sandwich." The red jam shows through, adding to the holiday spirit, and we sprinkle confectioners' sugar over them like snow to complete the process. ( I'd bake and eat the little leftover thimble cutouts, leaving no room for dinner.)
4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups butter (softened)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
Raspberry jam (with seeds)
Sift flour with sugar onto a pastry board. Cut in butter. Add eggs and vanilla and work into a smooth dough. Add flour as necessary to avoid stickiness. Form three to four balls from the dough. With each ball, roll out 1/8 to 3/16 inch thick on a floured surface. Cut into desired shapes, and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes.
-- Adapted from "The Czechoslovak Cookbook" by Joza Brizova; submitted by Caroline Abels, PG staff writer
Originally published on Sunday, December 13, 1998
