Ischeler Tortelettes, Shortbread, Chocolate & Apricot

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These Ischeler Tortelettes are a chocolate covered almond shortbread with apricot filling! The chocolate and apricot pair beautifully together! Another vintage Christmas Cookie in my collection, this one is Austrian.

These Ischeler Tortelettes are a chocolate covered almond shortbread with apricot filling! Ischeler Tortelettes have such a gorgeous flavor and texture.

Another cookie Mom and I have been making for eons are Ischeler Tortelettes. I literally have to threaten my teenagers with a swift death, if they steal any out of the freezer! There is a really good reason for that! Read on!

I recall one year when my eldest son was in high school, I made a triple batch. Now keep in mind this took 12-15 hours to accomplish such a feat. I was running out of freezer space and being that it was very cold that year, I was using the front porch for added freezer space!

On Christmas Eve I was making cookie plates for friends and family. I grabbed the cookie tin marked Ischelers and it was amazingly light! I think he probably left 5 in a tin that had once held about 50. That’s one small indication of just how addictive these cookies are! (Lucky for him I had another tin!)

How to make them

1. Place all ingredients in large mixing bowl.
2. Mix with hands to incorporate all ingredients.
3. Form a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic or waxed paper. Refrigerate overnight.
4. Roll dough to 1/8″ thick on floured board.
5. Cut out 1.5″ or 2″ rounds.
6. Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet. They can be placed close, since they don’t rise too much.
7. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes until very lightly browned. Don’t over brown, or they will taste burned. <h3>To assemble cookies</h3>
8. Match up tops and bottoms.
9. Fill with a bit of apricot jam. Top with another cookie.
10. Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler, or in microwave in 15 second bursts, stirring between bursts. Don’t get chocolate too hot ot it will seize up.

Frost top of cookie with a layer of chocolate. Decorate with slivered almonds. Allow cookies to dry on cooling rack for at least a couple hours.

Store between pieces of waxed paper in an air tight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Can be stored in freezer for about 1 month.

The recipe we have is from a magazine recipe cutout from 1961. They are my favorite, along with both sons, my sister, one sister in law… Hence the reason we have to do the minimum of 4 different kinds!

Everyone has a different favorite! Jam Filled Cookies, Christmas Cut Out Cookies and Hildabrötchen are the other 3. They are by no means difficult but they do take quite a while to make. For a single batch, about 4-5 hours depending on how big your cutter is.

What are your favorite Christmas, or holiday cookies? I hope you enjoyed the post today for these delicious Ischeler Tortelettes! Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Enjoy! And have fun cooking!

Tools I Use to Make Ischeler Tortelettes

Contains affiliate links, for full disclosure, see FTC Disclosure, here.

• Marble rolling pin
• marble board
• baking sheets
• cutters

Ischeler’s Tortellettes

Vintage Austrian Christmas Cookies are a family favorite!

See Step by Step Photos Above!Most of our recipes have step by step photos and videos! Also helpful tips so that you can make it perfectly the first time and every time! Scroll up to see them!

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: European

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Servings: 36 cookies

Calories: 126kcal

Author: Beth Neels

Cost: $8

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup ground blanched almonds
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh or bottled
• 1/2 cup apricot jam

For Glaze

• 3/4 cup (4 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• Blanched almonds , halved

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

For Dough

• Sift flour with baking powder and salt.
• Cut 1 cup butter in small pieces.
• Add butter, ground almonds, sugar, lemon juice and rind to flour,
• Knead with hands until dough is very smooth and firm.
• Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

For cookies

• Roll small parts of dough between waxed paper to 1/8″ to 1/4″ thickness; dough is easier to roll if it is left out of refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. See notes ***
• Cut into 1″ or 2″ rounds. 
• Bake cookies on greased and floured cookie sheets, or on parchment paper covered sheets, in moderate oven (350 F) 10 minutes, or until golden. Remove cookies carefully. Very thin cookies are fragile.
• After cooling, put two cookies together with jam in between, sandwich fashion. 
• Melt chocolate and 1 tablespoon butter over hot, not boiling, water. Beat until smooth. If necessary, add more butter or up to 1 tablespoon hot water to achieve spreading consistency.
• Frost Tortelettes on top. Decorate tops with slivered almonds immediately, while frosting is still soft. Cool thoroughly before storing. Will freeze up to 1 month.

mixer- KitchenAid

non stick baking sheet

rolling board, marble

rolling board, marble

Notes

Roll dough between waxed paper. Dough is very short. It is best to loosen the rolled dough from both pieces of waxed paper. To do this, carefully lift the waxed paper from the top of the dough. Then add the top back on and carefully flip the dough over, so that the bottom is now the top. Now just pull the waxed paper off of the top. Now cut out shapes, pick them up with a cookie spatula and lay on parchment lined cookie sheet.

General Baking Tips:

Always measure dry ingredients with a dry measuring cup. Measure with dry measuring cups or weigh dry ingredients.

Always measure liquid ingredients with liquid measuring cup

Never break eggs directly into recipe ingredients. Break eggs into a separate bowl, in case you get any shells, so that you can pull them out.

Make sure that you know what temperature your oven is set at. Buy an oven thermometer and check oven temperature regularly.

Always check baked goods, like cakes or quick breads with cake tester, placed in center. If the tester comes out clean, it’s done.

Nutrition

Calories: 126kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 66mg | Potassium: 35mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 175IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 0.5mg

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Originally Published 12/14/2014

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