These sweet little biscuits are the perfect afternoon pick-me-up snack – not too sweet but sweet enough to give you a boost of energy. I bet you can’t eat just one! The word “lunette” means “glasses” in French (as in, the glasses you wear to see better!) and it’s easy to see how these biscuits got their name…
Ingredients (makes 12 sandwich cookies)
3/4 cup (113g) all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons (85g) salted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Icing sugar
Jam of your choice
Equipment needed:
1 x oval cookie cutter approx. 7 cm (2 3/4-inches) in length
1 x piping tip 1 cm (1/2 inch) in diameter (I use Ateco #805)
Small metal sieve (for icing sugar)
Make the cookies:
Pulse the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor fitted with a metal blade until the butter is evenly “cut in” and the mixture looks like coarse sand.
Add the egg yolk and vanilla and pulse until the mixture clumps together around the edges of the bowl of the processor. This might take longer than you think but keep pulsing! The machine will sound different at this stage too (like it’s working harder!). If you squeeze together some of the dough with your fingertips, it should stick together.
Tip the dough into a small bowl and bring it together to form a ball with your hands. Flatten the ball slightly into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
When you are ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 375˚F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
On a floured surface or on floured parchment paper, roll the dough until you can cut out about 18 cookies using an oval cookie cutter that’s approx. 7cm (2 3/4 inches) in length. For reference, the dough should be about 5mm (1/5-inch) thick. This is quite thin.
Re-roll the leftover dough and cut out about 6 more cookies. You may need to refrigerate the rolled-out dough on a baking tray for about 5 minutes before cutting.
Place 12 cookies on one baking tray. Use the small end of a plain piping tip (1cm (1/2 inch) in diameter) to cut out 2 rounds in the centre of each of the 12 cookies to make the “glasses”.
Place the remaining 12 cookies on the second baking tray.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are just slightly golden.
Remove from the oven, place the trays on wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
Fill the cookies
Sprinkle icing sugar over the tops of the cookies with the cutouts using a small metal sieve.
Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons jam on the plain cookies, nearly to the edges with a butter knife or offset spatula.
Place the icing sugar dusted cutout cookies on top of the jam-topped cookies.
Store in the fridge (with layers of parchment or wax paper between each layer if you are stacking them) to allow the jam to set slightly. Bring to room temperature for a few minutes before serving.
Excerpted from French Food for Everyone: le goûter (after school snacks) by Mardi Michels of Eat, Live Travel, Write. Copyright © 2021 Mardi Michels. Photography ©Mardi Michels. Published by MLM Publications. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
