Napolitaines

Valentine's day is fast approaching and I thought sharing this cookie recipe would be really fitting.  These cookies are really cute with a pretty pink icing and a nice red jam in the center.  The colours make it perfect for Valentine's day or any day really!

This cookie is actually a regional specialty in Mauritius, which is where my parents are from.  So I've always known these delicious sandwich cookies all my life but only within the past year or two I've gotten around to actually making them.  Since my parents never made the cookies themselves, I ended up getting the recipe from my cousin and it turns out that many people refer to this recipe.  I was pleased that I got really good results!  

The first time I made Napolitaine cookies otherwise known as "Gâteaux Napolitaines" I had made them for a baby shower and I offered some leftovers to my best friend who had never tried them before.  She said the cookie was unique and like no other cookie she's ever had and that it was very good.  The more that I thought about it, the more that I realized that there isn't another kind of cookie like it.  

In light of that, let me describe it in greater detail so that way it'll give you a better impression of what it is.  It is a sandwich cookie composed of two sablé cookies with raspberry jam in the center and it's covered with a thick sweet pink glaze.  The actual sablé cookie is quite different than other sablé cookies because it doesn't contain any sugar and all of the sweetness is from either the jam or the sugar glaze.  The sablé cookies also don't contain any form of liquid or moisture so they are extremely flaky and crumbly or sandy.  So that pretty much is the cookie in a nutshell.  It's traditionally pink but you can play around with the colours and be creative!

It can take a bit of time for the dough to come together but be patient!  Once it is chilled it can be rolled out to about 1/3 inch thickness.

I used 2 inch round cookie cutters to make the cookies.  Be careful while handling the cookies because they are a bit delicate.

I made the icing then added 2-3 drops of food colouring which gave it this red hue.

However, once cooled the icing changes colour to become a light pink.  Much prettier!

I used seedless raspberry jam in the center of the sandwich cookies.

There are different techniques for icing the cookies.  Typically, people carefully pour the icing over the cookies but I feel that there's a lot of waste and not all of the sides are covered.  

I like to take the cookie and dip all of its sides in the icing then let that harden, afterwards pour over icing over the top or dip the tops in the icing.

Afterwards, I let the cookies dry on a cooling rack and then they're ready to be sampled!  These can also be stored for several days in an air tight container.

Napolitaines

Yield: 10-12 cookies

Ingredients:

250g sifted white flour

175g of butter

Seedless raspberry jam (about 50 g)

2 1/2 cups icing sugar

Red food colouring

1/2 cup water at room temperature

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Pinch of salt

Cookies

In a large bowl, mix flour and butter together with hands until it forms a soft cohesive dough.  Form dough into a disc shape and wrap dough in plastic wrap, then let chill in fridge for 25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 °F.  Roll out dough on a floured surface to an 8 mm (1/3 inch) thickness then cut out dough with 2-inch round cookie cutter.  Transfer cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake cookies on the middle rack for 10-12 min rotating once halfway.  It is important to not let cookies brown.  Remove cookies from oven and let rest on baking sheets for another 5-7 minutes before letting them cool completely over a cooling rack.

Icing

In a small saucepan, whisk together icing sugar and water until combined, then let the mixture come up to a simmer over a medium-low heat.  The mixture should bubble and resemble a syrup consistency.  Remove from heat and add 2-3 drops of red food colouring, stir to combine until resembling a faint red hue.  Let mixture cool and thicken for at least 10 minutes.  Once cooled, beat in lemon juice and a pinch of salt.  The icing should be a light pink colour.  Allow to rest.

While the icing is resting, assemble cookies by putting a heaping ¼ teaspoon of jam over half of the cooled cookies then laying the other half of the cookies on top.  Make sure to gently squeeze cookies together to spread the jam to the edges. 

Assemble sandwiched cookies on a cooling rack and pour the now thicken icing over the cookies to cover the tops and sides as much as possible.  If the icing becomes too hard it can be reheated to the right consistency.  Let cookies rest to allow the icing to harden and store in an airtight container.

Source: slightly adapted from http://ile-maurice.tripod.com/napol.htm