Breskvice (Peach Cookies)

The newest addition to our Croatian Christmas Cookies for 2018 is Breskvice, also known as Peach Cookies! When my Great Grandmother, Grandma, Mom and I get together to bake our cookies each year, we have our our staples that we stick to. However, for the past few years, Mom and I have been exploring new recipes together to add to the mix, and this year it’s Breskvice!

Breskvice is a cakey-cookie that resembles a peach! I like to think of it as the Croatian version of a sandwich cookie. This recipe can be a bit more challenging, however the end results render a beautiful, unique looking cookie with a unique taste that your family, friends and coworkers will be very intrigued by! Not to mention, there’s a decent amount of alcohol in here 😉

You can learn more about our family traditions by visiting this blog post: Croatian Christmas Cookies!  To explore more Croatian and American Christmas Cookie recipes, click here: Croatian Christmas Cookies 2017

This recipe comes from “The Best of Croatian Cooking”.

Prep Time: 15 minutes // Inactive Time: 1 hour  // Cook Time: 8 minutes // Decorating Time: 15 minutes // Yield: 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla sugar (or substitute equal parts vanilla and sugar)
• 2 1/2 cups pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp peach brandy
• Juice from 1 lemon

Filling Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp rum
• 1 1/2 cups ground walnuts
• 2 cups peach or apricot jam
• 2 tbs milk
• 1/2 cup peach brandy
• Red food coloring
• Yellow food coloring
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1. In a stand mixer, cream the butter until it’s light and fluffy, remove the butter from the bowl, scrapping down the sides and set aside in a small bowl. Add the egg yolks into the stand mixer and mix the egg yolks until they are lighter in color and frothy. In a separate bowl, use a hand-mixer or whisk to whip the egg whites until stiff. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar into the egg yolk mixture.
2. In a separate large bowl, add the flour and baking powder and whisk together. Slowly mix into the egg yolk mixture. Then add the butter back in along with the peach brandy and lemon juice. Mix until all ingredients are well-combined, then cover and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 350.
4. Take about 1 tsp of batter and roll it into a ball and place the balls 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes until cookies are a very light golden color. Remove them from the sheet and allow to cool.
5. Using a pairing knife, cut a circle at the bottom of the cookie and scoop out the insides of the cookies. Collect all the cookie crumbs in a medium-sized bowl, using your hands to crumble up the crumbs even smaller to begin the filling. Add the cocoa, rum, ground walnuts, jam and milk and mix together with a wooden spoon until combined.
6. Using a spoon, fill the cavities of each cookie with the filling mixture and sandwich two cookies together. There should be enough filling to where you can see a layer of filling between the two cookies sandwiched together. Repeat this process until all cookies are paired together.
7. Set aside 3 small bowls. In one bowl, add 1/4 cup of water with 2 drops of red food coloring. In the second bowl, add 1/4 cup of beach brandy and 2 drops of yellow food coloring. In the third bowl, add the granulated sugar.
8. Take one cookie and dip it half way into the red food coloring mixture, then the other half into the yellow food coloring mixture. Then slowly turn the cookie around in your hand for the two different food colors to mix into one another. Toss the cookie into the granulated sugar, being sure to coat the entire cookie in the sugar. Repeat this process with all of the cookies.

Breskvice can be served right away, or even frozen and stored for up to 1 month, enjoy!

Here’s the full collection of Croatian Christmas Cookies from this year!

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