Recipe 3: Grandma’s train track cookies

The declared winner of our team baking workshop is the family recipe of our workshop leader Raphaela from Backterium. The double filled shortbread base makes the cookies extra flavorful and a double treat.

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry

200g butter
300g flour
100g powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
vanilla
lemon peel


Almond-macaroon mixture

2 egg whites
150g powdered sugar
vanilla
160g grated almonds

Red jam (taste as you like, we like currant)

For the shortcrust pastry, quickly knead all ingredients into a dough. To make it easier to incorporate the butter, it can be shaved into the dough with a grater when chilled.

The dough should now be chilled for about half an hour.

Once chilled, the dough is cut in half and rolled out into two thin rectangles. The first rectangle is pre-baked in a preheated oven at 170-180°C top/bottom heat for 10 minutes. Then a thin layer of jam is placed on the pre-baked dough and the second rectangle of short pastry, exactly the same size, is placed on top of the first and baked for another 5 minutes.

For the almond macaroon mixture, first beat the egg whites until stiff. Then mix the remaining ingredients until smooth and fold in the beaten egg whites.

Now pipe the mixture in parallel lanes onto the double shortbread base – each with a little space between every other lane, which will later be filled with the jam. This gives the train track look, from which the name railwayman also comes.

The jam is heated in a pot and filled into the spaces with a piping bag or spoon. Now the work goes into the oven again until the webs are golden brown.

Once everything has cooled, the tracks are separated lengthwise with a knife and then cut into small, even sections of track.

The double-filled train track cookies in the completion

Click here for the basic train track cookie recipe. We also tried another version with a few variations and refinements.

By the way: If you want to support our baking professionals or another team, you can find our current job offers here.