Hindbærsnitter (Danish Raspberry Squares) (Alexandertorte)

• servings: 12 servings
• active time: 30 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar

1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

14 tbsp cold butter

1 egg

2/3 cup raspberry jam

3/4 cup raspberries (optional)

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp water

(1 tsp lemon juice, almond extract or vanilla extract, optional)

freeze dried raspberries

Directions

Cookie base

Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and add them to the powdered sugar. Add the flour and butter to the vanilla sugar mixture and either run the mixture in a food processor or mix with your hands until the butter is fully incorporated.

Add the egg and knead the dough together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Divide the chilled dough in two equal sections. Roll the dough into a cylinder and then use the rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle (about 8x9 inches, or 20x24 cm). I place baking paper below and on top of the dough so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin. Use a knife to cut off the edges so you get a fairly even rectangle.

Roll the other half of the dough out into a rectangle as well. You can use a measuring tape to make sure the rectangles are nearly the same size, or simply eyeball it (they don't have to be exactly the same, but the closer in size the better).

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Let the rectangles chill in the fridge again while the oven preheats.

Bake each rectangle for about 10 minutes. They should still be pale and soft when finished baking, not yet golden brown.

Let the rectangles cool a bit and then carefully set one on a cake platter.

Filling and Decoration

Spread the raspberry jam evenly over the cookie rectangle. If you want a thicker jam. you can use a fork to crush raspberries into the jam before spreading it out.

Carefully set the other rectangle on top of the bottom layer.

Icing

Mix the powdered sugar and water together until you get a nice icing. You can add lemon juice, or almond/vanilla extract if you like, but it's not necessary. The icing should be just thick enough to spread, but not so thin that it runs over the cake. Add more powdered sugar or water as necessary.

Carefully spread the icing over the top of the cake.

If desired, crush some freeze dried raspberries and sprinkle them over the top of the icing before it hardens.

Once the icing hardens, cut the cake into squares with a sharp knife. If the two layers are different sizes, you can cut off the edges to clean them up a bit.

Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag.

Notes

Can use lemon juice instead of water for the icing—gives a nice tangy flavor