RECIPE: Wiener Schnitten

Time for another family favorite recipe.  These cookies have been a part of our holiday baking tradition for as long as I can remember!  I even have a special rolling board that belonged to my Grandmother that I take out only to make these cookies!  This is probably the most highly begged for requested cookies that I make.   So this year since most of my friends and family are far away and cannot enjoy my homemade yumminess, I am sharing the recipe here.

I forewarn you that this recipe requires a bit of work, however, I can promise you that it is well worth the effort.  I also warn you that these will disappear very quickly, so you may want to consider making 2 batches!


INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 lbs room temperature butter (3 sticks - I use salted)
4 cups flour
4 egg yolks
1 Jar Raspberry Jelly (seedless)
Confectioner's Sugar
Meyers Rum (VERY important...do not substitute with any other type of rum!)
Milk
Non-Pareils


MAKE THE DOUGH:
Cream the sugar and the butter til smooth
Add 2 cups flour (1 cup at a time), beating between each addition
Add in 4 yolks , beating between each addition
Add remaining 2 cups of flour a little at a time.  You may need to hand knead the last 1/2 cup depending on the strength of your mixture.
The final dough should be a "cookie dough" consistency.

 Split the dough into 4 even sections and roll into a short, fat log.  At this time you can wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for several days until ready to use.  When ready to make the cookies, let them reach room temperature before molding the cookies.

FORM THE COOKIES:
Preheat the oven to 325'

Take one log and split in half.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out each dough ball into a long log about 10"-12" in length and 1" - 1.5" in width.

Place this log on your cookie sheet (I line my cookie sheets with Parchment Paper to make clean up easy).
Take your thumb and gently press a channel all the way down the center of the log.

 Repeat with the rest of your dough.  You will have strips of cookie when finished.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown.  Be careful, these can easily over-bake, and if they do, they will be impossible to cut without breaking!

 To help with cutting later, you may want to score your cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.  To do this, lightly press a knife at 1/5 intervals on a diagonal along the cookie.  Be careful not to cut through!

Let the baked cookies cool completely before continuing.

ADD THE TOPPINGS:
Heat the jelly in a microwave safe bowl (or stovetop) until it is watery and pours easily.
Spoon the jelly into the channels of each cookie strip.

Let the jelly cool.
Mix 1.5 cups of confectioner's sugar with 2 tbls. of milk and 1-2 tbls. of Meyers Rum.  Mix until it reaches a runny, but not watery consistency (almost like Elmer's white glue).  Add milk 1 tbls. at a time until you reach the proper consistency.  The sugar should flow easily off the spoon,

Drizzle the sugar mixture on each cookie.  Add non-pariels and let sit until the sugar hardens.  If you cut these before the sugar sets, you will have one runny mess!

 Finish by cutting the strips into cookies.  I cut them about 1.5" in width on an angle.  Gather the family around for the cutting so all broken pieces can be eaten.

Enjoy!