Vanilice

Ingredients

The dough

• 300 gplain flour
• 150 gground walnuts
• finely ground
• 200 glard
• or 200 g butter, softened
• 100 gcaster sugar
• 1egg yolk
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• or vanilla sugar
• half a teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoonswhite wine
• or milk, or rakija

The filling

• 250 gapricot jam
• thick, not runny
• or plum jam
• or rosehip jam
• sieved if very chunky

To finish

• 150 gicing sugar
• or caster sugar
• for rolling
• a little vanilla sugar
• optional

Equipment

• a small round cutter
• about 3 cm across
• baking trays and paper
• a rolling pin
• an airtight tin, to mature

Directions

1. Butter is very widely used now. Butter gives a richer, slightly firmer biscuit. They must be ground finely for this dough. Grind them in a processor in short pulses. Do not over-process them into paste. Add a spoonful of the flour to help. That keeps the mixture powdery. Beat the lard or butter with the sugar.
2. Beat it until it is pale and light. That takes three or four minutes. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla. Beat them in thoroughly together. Now add all the dry ingredients.
3. Combine the flour, ground walnuts and baking powder. Add the pinch of salt to them. Add them to the creamed mixture. Mix until it just comes together. Add the wine or milk gradually. Add only enough to bring it together. The dough should be soft but not sticky.
4. Wrap it and chill it for an hour. Cold dough rolls and cuts far better. Work with half the dough at a time. Keep the rest of it in the fridge. Roll it out on a floured surface.
5. Roll it to about four millimetres thick. Thicker ones are heavy and dry. Cut small rounds with a cutter. A small glass works if you have no cutter. Lay them on lined baking trays. Leave a little space between them. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees.
6. Bake for about ten to twelve minutes. They should be pale, not browned. Take them out while they are pale. Let them cool on the tray for five minutes. They are very fragile while hot.
7. Simmer it briefly and let it cool. Sieve it if it has large fruit pieces. Put a small amount on one biscuit. Press a second biscuit gently on top. Press gently, since they break easily. Put the icing sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll each sandwiched biscuit in it. Coat it on all sides generously.
8. Put them in an airtight tin in layers. Leave them for at least two days. Roll them in sugar again before serving. Serve them on a plate with other sweets. They keep two to three weeks in a tin. Freeze them and fill them after thawing.

Technique

• Take them out of the oven while still pale. Vanilice should barely colour; browning makes them dry and hard, and they firm up considerably as they cool.
• The maturing is not optional. Freshly baked and filled, they are hard. Two days in a tin — three or four is better — lets the jam soften them from inside, and that transformation is the whole point. This is why households bake them days before a slava.
• Use thick jam. Runny jam soaks the biscuits too fast and squeezes out of the sides. Reduce a loose jam briefly and cool it, and sieve it if it has large fruit pieces.
• Grind the walnuts finely, adding a spoonful of the flour to absorb the oil so they stay powdery rather than turning to paste. Coarse pieces make the dough crumble and stop it rolling smoothly.
• Tree nut allergy can be severe and there is no version of these without walnuts — they are the body of the dough. Tell guests.
• Roll them in sugar a second time just before serving. The first coating is absorbed as they mature, and a fresh one is what makes them look right.
• Chill the dough a full hour. It is a short dough and cold dough rolls and cuts far more cleanly.
• Slava, the Serbian household patron saint’s day, is recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Vanilice are among the standard sweets set out for guests, alongside Christmas, weddings and Easter.

Substitutions

• Butter replaces lard and is very widely used now; lard gives a shorter, more tender crumb and a particular flavour.
• Ground almonds or hazelnuts replace walnuts, though walnut is the traditional and characteristic nut.
• Plum, rosehip or quince jam replaces apricot; all are traditional.
• Milk or rakija replaces the white wine in the dough.
• Caster sugar replaces icing sugar for rolling and gives a slight crunch rather than a soft white coating.
• A shop sachet of vanilla sugar replaces the vanilla, which is what most Serbian households actually use.

Variations

• Some households make them larger, though small is traditional and a plate is meant to hold many.
• A version with the tops dipped in melted chocolate is a modern addition.
• Rafaelo, oblande and other layered sweets appear alongside them on the same celebration plate.
• Related jam-sandwiched nut biscuits are made across the Balkans and in Hungary and Austria.
• A version with lemon zest in the dough is made in some households and cuts the richness.
• Some cooks cut a small hole in the top biscuit so the jam shows through.

History

Small, delicate shortbread-style cookies, most often sandwiched together with jam or a chocolate filling and dusted heavily with vanilla sugar, closely associated with Serbian and wider former Yugoslav holiday baking, particularly around Christmas and New Year celebrations, when households traditionally bake large batches of several different specific holiday cookies together as part of an established seasonal baking ritual. Their crumbly, sandy texture, achieved through a specific ratio of butter, flour and ground nuts in the dough, distinguishes vanilice from firmer cookie styles, and the generous vanilla sugar coating applied after baking is considered an essential, non-negotiable finishing step rather than an optional garnish. They remain a fixture specifically of Serbian and regional winter holiday tables rather than a year-round everyday treat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vanilice?

Vanilice is a dessert from Serbia: little vanilla-walnut cookies sandwiched with jam. Small, delicate shortbread-style cookies, most often sandwiched together with jam or a chocolate filling and dusted heavily with vanilla sugar, closely associated with Serbian and wider former Yugoslav holiday baking, particularly around Christmas and New Year celebrations, when households traditionally bake large batches of several different specific holiday cookies together as part of an established seasonal baking ritual. Their crumbly, sandy texture, achieved through a specific ratio of butter, flour and ground nuts in the dough, distinguishes vanilice from firmer cookie styles, and the generous vanilla sugar coating applied after baking is considered an essential, non-negotiable finishing step rather than an optional garnish. They remain a fixture specifically of Serbian and regional winter holiday tables rather than a year-round everyday treat.

How long does Vanilice take to make?

Vanilice takes 45 minutes plus chilling of preparation and 12 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 40 filled biscuits. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Vanilice?

Yes, within limits. Butter replaces lard and is very widely used now; lard gives a shorter, more tender crumb and a particular flavour. Ground almonds or hazelnuts replace walnuts, though walnut is the traditional and characteristic nut. Plum, rosehip or quince jam replaces apricot; all are traditional. Milk or rakija replaces the white wine in the dough. Caster sugar replaces icing sugar for rolling and gives a slight crunch rather than a soft white coating. A shop sachet of vanilla sugar replaces the vanilla, which is what most Serbian households actually use.

What is the most important thing to get right in Vanilice?

Butter is very widely used now. Butter gives a richer, slightly firmer biscuit. They must be ground finely for this dough. Grind them in a processor in short pulses. Do not over-process them into paste. Add a spoonful of the flour to help. That keeps the mixture powdery. Beat the lard or butter with the sugar.