Jitterbugg

This is a cookie that I first made at the request of my mother. She told me that my grandmother used to make them for her when she was young. Unfortunately, this is not her recipe, it's just one that I found, but they still taste pretty amazing, and I try to make them at least once a year, for my mothers birthday.

The real "point" of these cookies is the shortness of the pastry, combined with the chewiness of the meringue. Don't get me wrong, there absolutely nothing wrong with the taste either, they're buttery, sweet, and delicious.

Jitterbugg

Ingredients (~40 cookies)
5 dl flour
1 dl + ½ dl sugar
200g butter
2 tsp vanilla powder
2 egg whites

Ingredients

Put the flour, room temperature butter, vanilla powder, and 1dl sugar into a bowl and mix (it's easiest to do with your fingers). This is quite a crumbly dough, try not to work it too much. Split the dough into 2 equal parts, and place in the fridge for ½-1 hour.

To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites to a stiff peak. Add the ½ dl of sugar, gradually, while whisking, then keep whisking for a couple minutes more. The meringue should be stiff and shiny.

Take one of the doughs out of the fridge, and roll it out between 2 sheets of parchment paper. The result you are looking for is a square, 20x30 cm in size, I like to measure and mark the top layer of parchment paper with a pen.

Spread half the meringue over the sheet of dough, as evenly as you can. Roll the dough, from the longer side, using the parchment paper to help, into a cylinder, so the internals will have a spiral pattern. Wrap in the parchment paper and put in the fridge to firm up.

Repeat for the other piece of dough.

The amount of time needed in the fridge can vary a little bit, usually it's ½-1 hour, but the important thing is that they are hard before you take them out, otherwise they will be impossible to cut cleanly.

Cut each roll into about 20 slices, approximately 1 - 1½ cm thick. Don't worry too much if your slices aren't perfect, or the dough breaks a bit, it'll meld during the baking. Place the slices onto an oven tray covered with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, place the tray in the middle of the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 175°C. Bake for 14-15 minutes. When done, the meringue turns a sort of peach color.

Dough

Meringue

Dough between 2 sheets

Rolled out

Top removed

With meringue

Rolled

Ready for the oven