Boxeknäpp

Who remembers Boxeknäpp? As a child from the 80s, we would always get Boxeknäpp for Kleesechersdag in Luxembourg. I distinctly remember these little hard cookies, topped with rock-hard colourful sugar mounts. They lay snuggled in the “Tellerchen” that we received from the Kleeschen – along with nuts, clementines and some chocolate.

I have to admit that I was never a big fan of Boxeknäpp, as they were really, really hard and not very tasty at all. But as nostalgia would have it, I have been thinking back to these old school cookies this year. And I haven’t seen them in the shops anymore, so I’ve decided to make them myself. These here are super pimped Boxeknäpp: buttery shortcrust pastry with vanilla, topped with delicate melt-in-your-mouth meringue. And now suddenly, I’ve turned into a Boxeknäpp lover!

I hope you will like them too!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anne’s Kitchen (@anneskitchen)

December 6, 2023

Get
You
Hungry

Steps
To
Make

Boxeknäpp

165g butter, cold
165g flour
20g sugar
10g vanilla sugar
2 egg yolks
a pinch of salt

For the meringues:
2 egg whites
190g icing sugar
½ tsp vinegar
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cornstarch
food colouring of your choice
sprinkles

Makes approx. 120

Cut the butter into cubes and put into a food processor with the flour, suar, vanilla sugar and egg yolks and a pinch of salt. Whizz until it comes together as a dough.

Shape the dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

While the dough is in the fridge, make the meringue. Put the egg whites into a bowl with a pinch of salt and beat with an electric whisk until they form soft peaks. Keep whisking and gradually add the sugar, 2 spoonfuls at a time, whisking for 20 to 30 seconds between each addition. Add the vinegar, vanilla essence, cornstarch and and mix again. Add a few drops of food colouring and mix with a spatula, adding more colouring if needed. Put into a piping bag and set aside until needed.

After 1 hour, preheat the oven to 160°C fan.

Dust your work surface with flour. Roll out the dough until thin, then cut out cookies with a 3cm doily-shaped cookie cutter. Put on a baking tray, then pipe little mounts of meringue onto each cookie and sprinkle with sprinkles.

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack.

These will keep in a tin for 2 weeks.

TIP: You will have leftover meringue, so just pipe more meringue mounts onto another baking tray and bake them the same way as the cookies – you’ll have lots of mini meringues to go on a bûche or scatter over ice cream or make an Eton mess with.

Similar
Recipes