Railway Biscuits with Raspberry Jam

Beat the room-temperature butter with caster sugar and salt for two to three minutes until pale and fluffy. Then pour the beaten egg in a thin stream into the mixture while the mixer is running: if it is added all at once, the egg and butter will separate.

Add the White flour and mix only until no dry flour is visible. Press the dough into a flat disc, wrap it in cling film and chill for about an hour. Chilled, it rolls out cleanly and won't stick.

Knead the cold dough briefly by hand until it is pliable, then place it on a lightly floured work surface between two 3 mm guide strips. Roll it out to a rectangle 25 cm wide, which gives a length of approx. 46 cm.

The guide strips really matter here: only when the dough is the same thickness everywhere will all the sheets bake evenly and lie flat on top of each other later.

Prick the whole dough all over with the mini roller docker. The small holes let steam escape during baking, so the strips won't puff up and stay nice and flat. You'll need this so that the second strip later sits snugly on top.

Cut the dough into 12 strips, each 4 cm wide and 25 cm long. The multi-wheel dough divider does this in one pass, and all strips come out exactly the same width. Without it, a long ruler will do the job.

Place the strips slightly apart and as straight as possible on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake them at 180 °C fan for 5 to 10 minutes, until they are set through but still pale. They will go into the oven a second time later and should not get too dark by then.

Erwärme 150 g Himbeerkonfitüre mit etwa 15 g Wasser in einer Pfanne und rühre sie glatt. Ist Deine Konfitüre sehr fest, nimm etwas mehr Wasser, ist sie eher flüssig, etwas weniger.

Streiche die warme Konfitüre mit dem Angled spatula dünn auf sechs der Bahnen und lege auf jede eine zweite Bahn. Drücke sie leicht an, damit sie gerade aufeinander sitzen: So entstehen 6 Doppelbahnen.

Fülle die Back-Mandelmasse in einen Piping bag mit Star tip 8 mm. Spritze auf jede Doppelbahn zwei gleichmässige Streifen entlang der beiden Längsränder, etwa 50 g pro Bahn. Halte die Piping nozzle dabei leicht schräg und ziehe in einem Zug durch, dann werden die Schienen gerade.

Leave the strips uncovered at room temperature for a few hours, until the almond paste has a dry skin. This skin holds the star shape in the hot oven. If you pipe the paste directly into the oven, the pattern spreads and the stripes go flat.

Preheat the oven to 250 °C and slide the dried strips in for about 4 minutes, until the almond paste is light brown. Stay by the oven: at this heat, golden brown can turn dark brown within seconds.

Erhitz in der Zwischenzeit die 300 g Himbeerkonfitüre für die filling, bis sie heiss und dickflüssig ist. Füll sie mit einem Löffel in den Zwischenraum zwischen den almond-Schienen. Heiss eingefüllt verläuft sie glatt und glänzt nach dem Abkühlen.

Let the strips cool completely so the jam sets. Only then cut them into 2 cm wide pieces with a sharp knife. If cut warm, the jam would run out and smear the cut edges.