Hallongrottor - vanilla cookies with raspberry

How cool is this: I’ve been baking small vanilla-raspberry cookies out of my favourite Swedish baking book, Underbart ät gott, for more than two years now, and only today did I find out that they are also German Plätzchen called Husarenkrapferl! In our family they will still be called hallongrottor, though.

Hallongrottor are very easy to bake, but there’s one challenge regarding the ingredients. According to the recipe, you need 60g of marsánpulver. Now if you live anywhere else than in Sweden you probably don’t have a clue what that is or how to get it. I’ve got my own Swedish provider (than you, Erik!) so I’ve been too lazy to find out how to replace it. Marsánpulver is a powder consisting of cornstarch and vanilla aroma, so I guess you could replace it by cornstarch and vanilla sugar. Then again, Sweden is really worth visiting - maybe this would be a perfect excuse ;)

For 25 hallongrottor/Husarenkrapferl you need

• 225g butter or vegan margarine


• 85g sugar


• 250g all-purpose flour


• 60g marsánpulver


• 1 ⅕ tsp baking powder


• 1 pinch of salt (if using non-salt butter)


• raspberry jam

Preheat your oven to 180 C. Cut the butter into small cubes and place in a baking bowl. In another bowl, combine sugar, flour, marsánpulver, baking powder, and salt (if using). Work the mixture with your fingertips until fine and crumbly, then form into a ball. If necessary, add 1 Tbsp cold water.

Divide the dough into 25 parts. Roll each of them into a small ball and place on an oven tray covered with parchment paper. Press a hole in the middle of each cookie, using your finger, and fill the holes with raspberry jam. Bake about 12-15 minutes, or until well cooked but not brown yet.