Czech Cherry and Spice Squares

 

I've been eyeing this recipe for a long time, but all the egg yolks and sourcing cherry jam put me off.  I wasn't sure they'd be worth the trouble and expense, but the recipe intrigued me, so I finally decided to make them.

I followed the recipe exactly to make 24 squares.  Here's what I used:

1 cup walnut pieces
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
pinch fine salt
1½ sticks salted butter, diced and slightly chilled
5 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons brandy

Filling
1 cup cherry jam
1/2 lemon, zest finely grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg white, for brushing

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.  Butter a 9 x 12½ -inch baking sheet pan, then cover bottom with parchment paper. Pulse the walnuts with the sugar, in a food processor until fine and powdery, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, spices, and salt, pulsing until evenly combined. Add the butter, yolks, and brandy and pulse until mixture starts to come together. Stop mixing and pull the dough together by hand, press and roll into a thick log about 8 inches long.  Cut the log crosswise into 12 equal pieces. (If the dough is very sticky, refrigerate it until easier to work with, about 30 minutes.) Lay 8 pieces of the dough on the bottom of the pan. Press and spread the pieces together with your fingertips to cover the pan evenly.  

Stir the cherry jam, lemon zest and juice together in a bowl.  Spread mixture evenly over the surface of the dough with the back of a spoon.  Roll the remaining 4 pieces of dough out on a well-floured surface about 1/8-inch thick. Use a small decorative cutter to cut the dough into 24 pieces. Evenly place the pieces on top of the filling in 6 rows of 4. Alternatively cut the dough into long strips with a pizza wheel or knife, and place them on the filling in a lattice pattern; or cut the dough into ovals and lay them on the filling in a decorative pattern. Brush decorative layer of dough with egg white.  Bake the squares until golden brown, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. Cut with a serrated knife into 2-inch squares.

If I were to make these again, I'd use a mixer rather than the food processor once I'd pulverized the nuts.  Dry mixes never mix up well in a food processor and it completely blended the butter into the dough.  It would mean another pan to clean, but the food processor container would be easy to wash from just the nuts.  I suspect the whole thing is done in the processor for supposed ease, but I find it a hassle. 

I was hesitant to dump all the egg yolks and butter in at the same time, so it did the butter first, then the yolks one by one.  My dough ended up fully homogeneous, which I'm guessing was not the goal.  It probably should have been more like pastry dough, with bits of butter showing. I also forgot to brush the tops with egg white, so they're dull instead of shiny.  I used less than half the dough reserved for the cutouts, so I could have started with less and used larger cutters.  I made 1/4 thick cookies with the remainder, which baked up in about 10-15 minutes and burned quickly.

Tips:  Cut parchment paper large enough to come completely up the sides of the pan so the preserves don't touch the pan.  (Once baked, the preserves stick hard to the edge of the pan and pull away from the crust.)  Leave two ends of

the parchment paper to overhang the ends of the pan, then use these as handles to lift the cookies out of the pan after they've cooled and prior to cutting.  Use dry spaghetti to lay out cutting lines in order to get the decorative cutouts properly centered.  Cut on a board using a gentle sawing motion, especially on the hard edges.

Conclusion: Good, but not 5 egg yolks good.  I think these would be just as tasty with nuts and spices mixed into a shortcrust pastry dough, like what I use for lemon squares.  And they'd hold together better.  (VERY crumbly.)

Recipe:  Czech Squares via Food Network