Today, I want to show you how to make Ischl tartlets that Czechs started to make when still a part of the Austrian Empire. These desserts were the favorite of the Emperor Franz Josef I.
Bad Ischl is a beautiful Austrian spa town in which the emperor Franz Josef I. proposed to Elisabeth of Bavaria, better known as Sissi. It is also known for the emperor’s favorite sweet, the Ischl Tartlets. Why would this recipe be on a blog about everything Czech then? The Kingdom of Bohemia, the Margraviate of Moravia and the Duchy of Silesia were all part of the empire and as people circulated, so did some of the culture and recipes. Czechs, Moravians and Silesians often worked in Austria and this is one of the recipes they brought back home with them.
The Ischl tartlets (Ischler Tortchen) are called išlské dotíčky or išelské dortíčky and because the Czechs adapted the original recipe, they come in several different versions nowadays. You will definitely encounter more of the adapted version and I will be posting that recipe as well but right now I want to share my traditional recipe that is more true to the original tartlets the emperor liked so much. I believe the only one who possibly has the original recipe would be the Zauner cake shop in Bad Ischl, although I bet mine comes pretty close 😉
Ischl tartlets are cinnamon crackers joined with chocolate cream and a little of sour jam in the middle, all dipped in chocolate and decorated with pistachios.
Don’t forget to check out all the other Christmas sweets recipes!
Table of Contents
Ischl Tartlets Recipe
You’ll need
For crackers
- 140 g/4.9 oz of plain flour
- 140 g/4.9 oz of cold butter
- 70 g/2.5 oz of ground almonds
- 70 g/2.5 oz of powder sugar
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
For cream
- 140 g/4.9 oz of unsalted butter
- 60 g/2.1 oz of dark chocolate
- 30 g/1.1 oz of powder sugar
- 1 tbsp of Czech rum
- sour jam
For topping
- 100 g of dark chocolate
- 40 g of butter
- handful of ground pistachios
How to make Ischl Tartlets
Crackers
Cut the butter in cubes and place them in a bowl together with the flour. Add the rest of the cracker ingredients and combine everything well with your hands fast. You want the dough to stay cold throughout the process. When the dough is smooth, wrap it in some foil and let it rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Then roll it out thin and cut out round shapes. Completely round would be more traditional but I really like the wavy edge so I use this cutter.
Preheat your oven to 170°C/338°F and bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Let them cool down.
Filling
For the filling, melt the chocolate in water bath and let it cool down a little. Let the butter soften and whisk it with sugar until fluffy. Then whisk in the chocolate and rum and fill your decorating pipe with the cream.
Start with putting a little jam in the middle of half of the crackers.
Pipe the cream around the jam.
Do this with only half of the crackers.
Place the other half of the crackers on top of the cream and press just a little, Let the cookies set in the fridge for at least two hours, overnight is better.
Topping
Melt the chocolate and butter in water bath and let it cool down a little bit so the hot chocolate doesn’t melt the cream as you dip the cookies. Dip one half of the cookies.
Let the chocolate cover also the cream. Let the chocolate set, place the plate with the half-covered cookies in the freezer for a while, if you can.
Then dip the other half of the cookies in chocolate and decorate with pistachios. Let the chocolate on the cookies set in the fridge. Store the Ischler tartlets in a cold place.
