Spitzbuben

These delicious vegan Spitzbuben biscuits are made with a double layer of sweet shortcrust pastry and a delicious, fruity jam filling! Try this recipe – these jam sandwich biscuits are actually far easier to make than you’d imagine! And no one will ever guess they’re vegan – unless you tell them, of course! Spitzbuben are the most beautiful and best-loved of all the Christmas biscuits and they brighten up any biscuit platter. It’s lovely to wrap them up and give them to people just before Christmas! Here in Switzerland, it’s traditional to use redcurrant jam for Spitzbuben. Alternatively, people use apricot or other red jam, like raspberry. The Spitzbuben in the pictures in this post have apricot and mixed red berry jam fillings.

Spitzbuben origins

What does the word Spitzbuben mean, and where did the biscuits originate?

It seems Spitzbuben are a relatively modern addition to the Swiss guetzli (biscuits) platter and were likely created in the early 20th century. The term Spitzbuben means “rascals” or “mischievous boys”, probably because of the jammy faces that were originally cut into the pastry. 

In the English-speaking world, Spitzbuben are more generally known as jam sandwich cookies. The UK’s answer to Spitzbuben are called Jammie Dodgers, introduced in 1960, with a heart-shaped hole but no icing sugar.

Then there’s the world-famous Austrian version made with the addition of almond flour, Linzer kekse (cookies), also known as Linzer Augen, originating from the city of Linz in the north of Austria. German Spitzbuben recipes are very similar to Austrian and Swiss ones.

Christmas traditions and Spitzbuben cookies

I have to confess I don’t have a sweet tooth, but all the rest of the family do, so I have to make an effort sometimes! Plus, lots of you will be looking for vegan recipes for desserts, cakes and biscuits – especially at this time of year! I felt I had to oblige and thought that this one for vegan Spitzbuben would fit the bill perfectly!

Spitzbuben are everyone’s favourite, and I must admit I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for them myself! Kids go wild for them, as you can probably imagine. While typically associated with Christmas, there’s nothing to stop you from eating them at other times of the year – like on Valentine’s Day or for an afternoon tea with friends. If you make your own, you have full control over the ingredients, and you can be 100 % sure that they’re vegan and that they don’t contain palm oil, glucose syrup, or other undesirable ingredients.

Here in Switzerland, it’s traditional to bake homemade guetzli (cookies) in December and gift them to friends and family. We usually do that on or around the 8th, which is a public holiday here. I find that homemade biscuits and cookies are such a lovely way to surprise our loved ones! These beautiful Spitzbuben with the heart-shaped centre are just perfect. Make a few different types of Christmas biscuits and put them all in a transparent packet, jar or homemade box for your family and friends. No packet of Swiss Christmas biscuits would be complete without Spitzbuben!

Vegan Spitzbuben recipe ingredients

It was relatively easy for me to make a vegan version of traditional Swiss Spitzbuben without compromising on authenticity. The original recipe contains butter and egg white, which can be easily and successfully replaced by plant-based butter and aquafaba as an egg substitute, making these jam biscuits eggless and completely vegan. You can also make them gluten-free by substituting all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour.

In the recipe card below, you’ll find the exact quantities of each ingredient.

Butter

Replace the butter in this Spitzbuben recipe with a vegan alternative, like Flora or Vegan Block by Naturlì or V-LOVE from the Migros. I use Vegan Block.

Sugar

This recipe calls for white castor sugar. Castor sugar, also known as caster sugar or superfine sugar, is simply a finer-grained version of regular granulated white sugar. It’s best to use finely ground sugar in this recipe because the shortcrust pastry should have a really refined texture. If you only have coarsely ground sugar, you could grind it to a finer consistency in a blender. Alternatively, you could use icing sugar instead.

Bear in mind that some sugars aren’t vegan. Read about the use of bone char (often referred to as natural carbon) in sugar here. In the same article, you’ll also find a list of companies that commercialise vegan sugar and the ones whose sugar is not vegan. I use Aarberg extra fine sugar, which I buy at the Migros here in Switzerland.

Aquafaba (optional)

There’s only one egg white per 350 g of flour in the original Spitzbuben recipe, which makes it easy to make it vegan. The egg white serves as a binder to hold the pastry together, making it easier to handle, roll out and cut. I’ve tried and tested two versions of this recipe multiple times – one with aquafaba to replace the egg white and one omitting it completely. Both are equally successful. The taste and consistency of the finished biscuit is virtually identical. The only perceivable difference is that the recipe without aquafaba is a little bit more challenging to roll out. But don’t be discouraged – it’s absolutely doable if you don’t want to go to the trouble of using aquafaba. It’s just like rolling out shortbread biscuit paste, which also has no egg in it.

If you’re new to the world of vegan, maybe you don’t know what aquafaba is. It’s what we vegans use to make meringues and lots of other goodies. Aquafaba is basically the water that chickpeas have been cooked in. It is used as a replacement for eggs and egg whites. Its composition of carbohydrates, proteins, and other soluble plant solids, which have migrated from the legumes to the water during cooking, gives it a wide spectrum of emulsifying, foaming, binding, gelatinising and thickening properties very similar to those of eggs.

I’ve written a complete guide on aquafaba with all the information you need: how to make it from dried or tinned chickpeas; how to whip it and how to use it in savoury recipes or desserts; how to troubleshoot if your aquafaba won’t whip. Read all about that here.

Vanilla

These vegan Spitzbuben are delicately infused with vanilla. I use a few drops of vanilla extract. Remember that vanilla essence is not the same thing as vanilla extract. Vanilla essence is often a synthetic or artificially flavoured product and lacks the depth and complexity of true vanilla extract.

You could also use vanilla sugar if you can find a vegan brand. The only vegan vanilla sugar I could find was too dark in colour to use in Spitzbuben cookies because of the black flecks of vanilla and dark cane sugar. If you use vanilla sugar, remember to reduce the quantity of normal sugar accordingly – see the recipe card below.

Lemon juice

I recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice for this recipe.

Flour

Plain, all-purpose white flour is perfect for making these vegan Spitzbuben biscuits. I use what is known as type 00, which is the most refined and the best for making cakes and biscuits.

Icing sugar for dusting

You’ll need icing sugar for the dusting. You can either use shop-bought icing sugar or grind regular granulated or castor sugar to a fine powder. Whether or not icing sugar is vegan depends on the original sugar used.

How to make vegan Spitzbuben biscuits

Spitzbuben are really easy to make. First, leave the vegan butter out of the fridge to soften for a while at room temperature. Then, beat the butter and castor sugar together with a wooden spoon or hand whisk until smooth and creamy.

Next, measure out the aquafaba (optional) and add it to the butter/sugar mixture, along with a teaspoon of lemon juice and a few drops of vanilla extract. Beat vigorously until smooth and creamy. As I said above, the aquafaba in this recipe helps to hold the other ingredients together and make the biscuit paste easier to roll out. If you don’t want to bother with the aquafaba, don’t worry; the biscuits will turn out perfectly fine without it!

Add the flour and fold it into the mixture with a spatula.

Mix all the ingredients until combined and the biscuit paste is homogeneous and smooth. Don’t knead it.

Shape the pastry into a ball, flatten it slightly and wrap it in cling film. Place it in the fridge to rest for about 30 minutes before attempting to roll it out. You can keep it in the fridge for several days before using it if you want.

After 30 minutes, get the pastry out of the fridge. It should be firm enough to roll out. If it isn’t, leave it a little longer. If you left it in the fridge for a long time, you might need to leave it at room temperature for a while before it’s soft enough to roll out.

how to roll out vegan Spitzbuben shortcrust pastry

Sprinkle some flour on a clean worktop and roll the pastry out to a thickness of 3 – 4 mm. Cut out discs using a biscuit cutter – half of them with a hole and the other half without. You can make the hole in the centre any shape. The most common are heart-shaped, round, or a star.

Gather the leftover scraps, squeeze them together and roll the pastry out again. Repeat until all the pastry is used up, chilling it briefly before re-rolling if necessary.

There are biscuit cutters with the part for making the hole already incorporated. It sounds like a great idea, but often it isn’t. I find most of them terribly fiddly to use. I use two separate cutters – one for the biscuits and one for the hole (see the photo of my cutters below, left). This year, I managed to find one that actually works quite well, but it makes bigger biscuits, so I use that for my “special edition Spitzbuben”, which I make on Christmas Eve (see the cutter in the photo below, right).

You can simply use a normal biscuit cutter and something like a metal piping nozzle for cutting the hole.

How to bake vegan Spitzbuben

Lay the discs on a sheet of baking paper (see photo below, right). Slide the sheet of baking paper onto a hot oven tray (not a rack). Bake the biscuits in the middle of the oven at 180 °C for 10 – 15 minutes. In my fan oven, they take between 12 and 13 minutes. They are cooked when they are just starting to change colour.

When done, remove the tray from the oven and leave the biscuit halves to cool and harden before handling them.

How to assemble Spitzbuben

Once the discs have cooled down completely, you can assemble them. Stir the jam in the jar to loosen it up a bit. Put ½ teaspoon of jam on each base, trying to keep the jam piled up in the middle and leaving the edges free.

Put some icing sugar in a clean, dry tea strainer. Dust the discs with the holes in them (the top pieces) with the icing sugar. Place the top pieces onto the bottom pieces with the jam and press down gently. Be careful not to squeeze the jam out of the sides.

How to store your vegan Spitzbuben

Your vegan Spitzbuben will keep for weeks if stored correctly. Put them in an airtight tin and put them in a very cold place for at least 24 hours. This improves the texture of the biscuits. We put ours on the balcony because the temperature outside is between 0 and 8 °C in December (we use it as a second fridge!) After the initial thermal shock, store the tin in a cool, dry place (or leave them out on the balcony, like we do). They’ll keep for several weeks.

Can you freeze Spitzbuben?

Yes, you can, but I don’t really recommend doing it. The problem with pastry and baked goods generally is that they don’t keep well for very long in the freezer. They also tend to absorb the smells of other foods when stored in proximity. And, of course, the humidity makes them go a bit soft.

Spitzbuben will last for a month or more if stored correctly, i.e. in very cool, dry place.

I hope you like this recipe for Spitzbuben! If you do, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Did you enjoy making these vegan Spitzbuben biscuits? If you did, it would be great if you could give this recipe a 5-star review and leave a comment below – I love hearing from all of you out there!

Would you like to try making other traditional (vegan) Swiss Christmas biscuits? Then you could try my recipe for vegan Vanillekipferl (vanilla crescent cookies)!

While you’re here on Vegan Hot Stuff, maybe you’d like to take a look at some other popular Christmas cookie recipes…

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