Lucie cookies were popular butter cookies in Czechoslovakia before the Velvet revolution and at the beginning of the 1990s.
I think there are more than a few products – that would now be called retro – which we remember from the socialist era and think of them with nostalgy. For me, one of those things are the butter cookies Lucie. Round and flower-shaped delicate and crisp cookies with a bit of red marmalade in the center. The cookie tastes a little bit like the Linecké Christmas cookies but it’s more delicate and vanilla-flavored.
I haven’t tasted one in over 20 years and then, at a certain point, I remembered them and couldn’t get them out of my head. Thinking of a recipe for butter cookies wasn’t difficult, the question was how to make the cookies more delicate (and I think I nailed it). All in all, it’s not difficult to make them but I have to take my time and rest my hands as pushing the dough through the decorating bag and tip is less so.
So if you want to experience (or remember) one of the iconic tastes of the 1970-1990s, make Lucie cookies with me!
Lucie Cookies – Recipe
Ingredients
- 70 g/2.5 oz of powder sugar
- zest from 1/2 lemon
- 2 eggs
- 250 g/8.8 oz of softened butter
- 300 g/10.6 oz of plain flour (hladká mouka – see Czech Flour Guide)
- 1 vanilla sugar (7 g/0.25 oz)
- 1 vanilla pudding in powder (38 g/1.3 oz)
- pinch of salt
- red marmalade – I find red currant tastes the best
- decorating set
Butter needs to soften at room temperature, don’t melt it in the microwave. Eggs need to be also at room temperature, let them rest outside the fridge. You can replace vanilla sugar with real vanilla seeds or vanilla paste. Vanilla pudding in Czech stores is mainly cornstarch, aromas and yellow food colorant. Red currant marmalade or any other marmalade with acid taste will be perfect but you can use any other marmalade as well. Don’t use marmalades that are too liquid.
How to make it
Put the flour in a large bowl and let it get warm. In summer, you can cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rest in the sun for a couple of minutes, or you can microwave it for 20 seconds, just to get it a little warm. Add vanilla pudding and mix. Cut softened butter in cubes, add it to the bowl and knead until the dough is smooth.
In another bowl, whisk eggs with powder sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and salt. Add to the flour bowl. Knead the dough with a wooden spoon until it’s completely smooth.
Choose a head for the decorating bag, the shape should be round. Fill the bag with dough and start forming the cookies on a baking sheet placed on a baking tray.
The original Lucie cookies used to have 4 petals, I just decided to make my life more difficult and make 6 petals (joking, I like how the 6 petals look). So make four or six petals in a circle and add just a little bit of dough in the center.
Put a little bit of marmalade in the center.
Preheat your oven to 160°C/320°F and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. The cookies are done when they’re golden. Let them cool down and serve.
