Skinny and crispy sand tarts are easy and irresistible Pennsylvania Dutch cookies. Hold them traditional with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and pecan halves, or make them festive with coloured sugars!
The Finest Sand Tarts Recipe
In the event you’ve been round for a short while, we’re usually staff delicate and chewy cookies right here at Sugar Spun Run. Nevertheless, I’ll make an exception infrequently, particularly when nostalgia is concerned. And for me, there’s no cookie fairly as nostalgic as sand tarts!
A Google search received’t produce too many outcomes for this Pennsylvania Dutch traditional, however if you happen to stroll via an Amish market close to the Mason Dixon line, you’ll make sure you discover these cookies in nearly each form and colour. Simply tailored for nearly any vacation (though they’re hottest for Christmas and Easter), there are a couple of qualities about these cookies don’t change: an extremely buttery taste, completely crisp texture, and impressively skinny look.
Three issues to learn about this recipe:
- These are very skinny cookies. You’ll assume you may’t roll the dough any thinner, however you really want to attempt to get it lower than ⅛ inch thick for the right crisp texture.
- The coolness time is lengthy, however it’s crucial. It’s additionally essential to divide the dough into a couple of components so you may let the dough you’re not working with keep within the fridge–we wish to maintain it as chilly as doable.
- Customise them as a lot as you’d like! Skip the nuts, lower them into enjoyable shapes, use coloured sugars, and so on. So long as you don’t change the cookie base, you may customise the toppings and form to your coronary heart’s need.
What You Want
This recipe is customized from a sand tart recipe my grandmother gave me. It requires simply 8 elements–so easy and so good!
- Butter. We’ll begin this recipe by creaming softened butter with granulated sugar. I like to make use of unsalted butter and add salt myself. In the event you solely have salted butter available, observe the conversion in my salted vs. unsalted butter submit.
- Eggs. My grandmother’s unique recipe concerned separating the egg whites and beating them to stiff peaks. We tried this, however with how dense the dough was, it virtually appeared pointless. So, we tried once more with out individually beating the egg whites and have been more than happy to search out the cookies tasted similar, so we nixed the additional step! Yay for simplicity!
- Flour. We’re sticking with all-purpose flour for these sand tarts. Ensure you measure your flour correctly, or you would find yourself with thicker cookies (and also you already know they need to be good and skinny!).
- Pecans. These are elective, however they do add a pleasant texture and taste to the cookies. I usually adorn simply a few of my sand tarts with pecans, since I additionally love them with simply the egg/cinnamon sugar on prime.
- Cinnamon sugar. That is only a easy combination of floor cinnamon and granulated sugar. If in case you have some cinnamon sugar already ready, be happy to make use of that right here as a substitute of creating extra for this recipe.
SAM’S TIP: Lower your sand tarts into any form you’d like! I keep in mind my grandmother skipping the pecans and reducing hers into stars and santa clauses. These have been my favorites!
Bear in mind, that is simply an summary of the elements I used and why. For the complete recipe please scroll right down to the underside of the submit!
The way to Make Sand Tarts
Make the Dough
- Cream the butter and sugar with an electrical mixer till fluffy.
- Whisk collectively the eggs, salt, and vanilla in a separate bowl, then progressively drizzle this combination into the butter combination whereas mixing on low pace. Improve the mixer to excessive and beat till lightened in colour.
- Step by step add the flour till totally included, then cowl and chill the dough within the fridge in a single day.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal items, then put three of the items again within the fridge. We wish to work with one piece of dough at a time.
- Mud your work floor with flour, then roll the dough into a really skinny sheet (thinner than ⅛”).
Add the Toppings
- Lower the dough into circles with a 2 ¼” cookie cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Brush the tops of every cookie with the overwhelmed egg, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes at 350F (175C), then take away from the oven and let cool for five minutes on the baking sheet. Switch to a cooling rack to chill utterly, then take pleasure in!
SAM’S TIP: Since sand tarts are so skinny, they’re susceptible to burning simply. Regulate yours whereas they’re within the oven, as each oven is completely different and your cookies is perhaps completed prior to 9 minutes!
Regularly Requested Questions
Sure! 136 cookies is quite a bit, even when they’re skinny like these sand tarts. Most elements will halve simply, however the eggs aren’t so simple.
To halve an egg, you’ll merely must crack your egg right into a liquid measuring cup and whisk to mix the yolk and white. Be aware of the measurement (usually about ¼ cup for a big egg), then spoon out the combination right into a separate bowl till you’ve reached half of what was initially there.
Don’t throw out the half that you just spooned out–put it aside for the egg wash!
Sand tarts have Pennsylvania Dutch origins, much like whoopie pies (also called gobs!) and shoofly pie. You’ll typically discover them sprinkled with colourful sugars for Christmas or Easter in Pennsylvania Dutch bakeries and Amish markets.
Sure! You possibly can retailer this dough for as much as 5 days within the fridge. Be certain that to maintain it tightly wrapped so it doesn’t dry out. The dough is perhaps a bit robust to roll out after storing this lengthy, so you could must let it heat up barely earlier than rolling.
Have you ever ever had sand tarts? I’d like to know what you consider my model ❤️
Take pleasure in!
Let’s bake collectively! Subscribe to my e-newsletter to be notified of all the latest recipes and observe alongside on YouTube the place I share lots of of free recipe tutorials! 💜
Sand Tarts
Skinny and crispy sand tarts are easy and irresistible Pennsylvania Dutch cookies. Hold them traditional with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and pecan halves, or make them festive with coloured sugars!
Servings: 136 cookies
Energy: 51kcal
Stop your display from going darkish
Directions
-
Mix butter and sugar in a big mixing bowl and use an electrical mixer to beat collectively till mild and fluffy and well-creamed.
1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
-
In a small mixing bowl, whisk collectively eggs, salt, and vanilla. Slowly drizzle egg combination into butter combination whereas mixing. Improve mixer pace to excessive and beat collectively till lightened in colour (about 3 minutes).
3 giant eggs, 1 ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-
Step by step add flour and stir in till utterly mixed. Cowl bowl tightly with plastic wrap and switch to the fridge to relax in a single day.
3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
-
After dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper (put aside).
-
Divide dough into 4 equal segments. Utilizing one phase at a time (maintain the remaining within the fridge) roll dough out on a clear, frivolously floured floor. Dough needs to be skinny, lower than ⅛” (.3cm). Use a 2 ¼” cookie cutter to chop out shapes and switch to ready baking sheet.
-
In a separate, small dish, whisk collectively cinnamon and sugar for topping.
1 Tablespoon floor cinnamon, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
-
Use a pastry brush to brush the tops of every cook dinner with the overwhelmed egg, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar combination on prime, then prime with a pecan half.
1 giant egg, 136 (270 g) pecan halves
-
Bake in heart rack of 350F (175C) oven for 9-10 minutes. (Don’t let the sides brown an excessive amount of as these cookies are very skinny and might simply burn, regulate them!). Take away from oven and permit to chill on baking sheet for no less than 5 minutes earlier than transferring to wire rack to chill utterly.
Diet
Serving: 1cookie | Energy: 51kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fats: 3g | Saturated Fats: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fats: 1g | Trans Fats: 0.1g | Ldl cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 24mg | Potassium: 11mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Dietary info is predicated on third-party calculations and needs to be thought of an estimate solely. Precise dietary content material will fluctuate based mostly upon manufacturers used, measuring strategies, cooking technique, portion sizes, and extra.
Extra Crispy Cookies
