Hello !

Since you wanted to know what we other Australians bake for Christmas,
I've translated two recipes (the are hundreds more).
I've taken two with apricots involved, as you've said that you like apricots.

The first one is "Marillenringe" (apricot rings; Marille is Austrian for
apricot).
The second recipe is "Nusswürfel", walnut cubes.

I hope you like them.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner



Marillenringe

The dough :
300 grams flour
1/2 a package (8 grams) baking-powder
100 grams powdered sugar
1 package (15 grams) vanilla sugar
80 grams butter
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon milk
grated skin of half a lemon

-------------
ca. 200 grams apricot jam
1 package vanilla sugar
50 grams powdered sugar

Mix flour wath baking powder and sieve it.
Mix with butter until flaky.
Add the rest of the ingredients for the dough.
Form a smooth dough.
Cover and let it rest in a cool place for at least
half an hour.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2 mm.
Punch out circles with a diameter of 5 cm.
From half of those pieces, punch out circles (ca 3 cm
diameter) in the middle.
Put the Kekse on a buttered baking tin (or use baking
paper).
Knead the rest dough again, roll out again and repeat,
until no dough is left.
Bake at 200 deg Celsius for ca. 10 minutes.
Warm the apricot jam in a waterbath.
Spread jam thinly over the circles. Put the rings on
top and gently press them together.
Sprincle with a mixture of powdered an vanilla sugar.
Fill the rings with the rest of the jam.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Nusswürfel

The dough :

250 grams flour
1/2 a package ( 8 grams) baking-powder
140 g butter
80 g powdered sugar
15 grams vanilla sugar
grated skin of half a lemon
------------------------------------
The filling :

200 grams grated walnuts
100 grams powdered sugar
4 tablespoons dark rum
4 tablespoons water
1 tablsspoon apricot jam
-------------------------------------
The icing :

250 grams powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 tablespoon espresso
-------------------------------------
Decoration :
Walnuts, in halves and sugared

Mix flour wath baking powder and sieve it.
Mix with butter until flaky.
Add the rest of the ingredients for the dough.
Form a smooth dough.
Cover and let it rest in a cool place for at least
half an hour.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 cm.
Put onto baking tin and stab with a fork every 5 cm.
Bake in oven at 200 deg Celsius for 10-12 minutes
(until the cookies are slightly golden yellow).
Cut the loaf in half horizontally.
Lift the upper half.
Mix the filling and spread on lower half.
Put upper half back on and gently press down.
Cut the loave into cubes (ca 7 cm).

Mix icing with a whisk (stir a few minutes, until smooth).
Baste the cubes with the icing, put a walnut half on top
of each cube.