Hurmašice – Bosnian butter cookies in syrup

Put the 500 g sugar reserved for the syrup in a saucepan, then add all the weighed water and the lemon juice. Heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the syrup boils, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Take it off the stove and let it cool at room temperature while you prepare and bake the cookies. It should be cool when you pour it over them, without adding any water.

Cut the butter into small pieces and soften it until easy to cream, without melting it. Cream it with the remaining 100 g sugar for a few minutes. Briefly beat the eggs, weigh out exactly 100 g without shells and add them to the butter in two batches. Add all the sour cream and mix until smooth. The weighed eggs include both the whites and the yolks.

Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Add it to the butter mixture in two or three batches, stirring with a spoon. Finish by briefly bringing the dough together by hand, just until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is soft and cohesive. Do not knead it at length like bread dough. You should be able to shape it in your hands without dusting it with extra flour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C with conventional top and bottom heat. Prepare a dry metal baking pan about 35 × 25 cm and at least 5 cm deep, with enough room for the syrup too. Divide all the dough into twenty similar portions, about 46 g each. Roll each portion into a smooth ball in your hands, then into a short, slightly flattened log.

Gently press one side of each log against the fine raised teeth of a clean grater to leave a pattern on top. Carefully lift it off and shape it into an oval about 6 cm long. Arrange the cookies patterned side up in four rows of five, leaving roughly a centimeter between them to allow for a little rise. Do not crowd the cookies against the sides of the pan.

Place the pan on the middle oven rack and bake for about 30–35 minutes. The cookies should expand a little, turn evenly golden and become distinctly firm while keeping their pattern. If they brown too quickly toward the end, loosely cover the top with foil. Have the cooled syrup ready to pour over the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.

Set the hot pan on a stable heatproof surface. Carefully pour all the cooled syrup evenly over the hot cookies and into the gaps between them. Pour gradually, as the liquid may hiss at first. Leave everything in the pan; the cookies will slowly soak up syrup as they cool and chill. They do not need to absorb all the syrup immediately.

Leave the pan at room temperature for about an hour so the cookies and syrup can cool down. Then cover the pan and refrigerate for at least 5 hours. Allow about 6 hours in total for cooling and soaking. During this time, the hurmašice will soften while keeping their shape and the visible pattern on top.

Serve the hurmašice chilled, allowing two cookies per serving. Divide the syrup left at the bottom of the pan among all ten servings too, and spoon it over the cookies. Keep the dessert covered in the refrigerator; it is best to portion it with the liquid so the cookies stay moist.