Vanillekipferl - "Vanilla moons"

These fluffy cookies are a delicious blend of almond and vanilla. Due to the fact that this recipe calls for egg yolk, while the cinnamon star recipe calls for egg whites, I usually bake both recipes in one day in order not to waste any ingredients.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 250g flour
• 80g confectioner's sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 200g butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 100g ground almonds (peeled)
• pinch of salt

To cover the cookies:

• 2 packs of vanilla sugar (alternatively, a bit of vanilla flavor and additional sugar should work)
•  50g sugar/ confectioner's sugar (I usually alternate between those, as confectioner's sugar looks more like christmas, but sugar tastes better)

Preheat the oven to 160 °C (fan oven) or 200 °C (upper and lower heat). Scrape the vanilla bean and seperate egg yolks from egg whites. You might want to sieve the confectioner's sugar, as there should not be any lumps. Mix all ingredients for the dough in the order mentioned above and let the dough sit for 1-2 hours in the fridge. Try to keep the dough as cool as possible at all times.

Form "sausages"out of the dough and bend them into little crescents. Be careful to keep them evenly sized and do not make the ends too pointy, as they will get burnt if you do. Keep enough space between the cookies, as they will get bigger in the oven.

Mix the sugar and vanilla sugar in a bowl. As soon as the cookies get out of the oven (after about 10 minutes, they should not turn brown), "bathe" them in the sugar-mix individually. Be careful, as they are still quite fragile when they are warm. However, they need to be warm for the sugar to stick to them.

Let the cookies cool off before you package them. I hope you enjoy baking this recipe and please come back if you are interested in more christmas recipes. Happy holidays!

Zimtsterne - "Cinnamon stars"

As a major christmas-fanatic and lover of baked goods, I decided that the best way to start this blog would be a German classic. Cinnamon stars perfectly combine the flavors of almonds and cinnamon and even though they are fairly easy to bake, the contrast between the smooth white topping and rough almond dough made them a German christmas staple.

Ingredients:

• 500g ground almonds (unpeeled) + additional alonds to cover the working area
• 250g confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 egg whites
• 3 drops bitter almond flavor (can be substituted with other almond flavor or left out if not available in your country)
• 1 pack of vanilla sugar (can be substituted with vanilla flavor)

Preheat the oven to 100 °C (fan oven) or 125 °C (upper and lower heat). Beat egg whites until stiff. Carefully add small portions of confectioner's sugar to the egg whites while you keep mixing. Remove 6 tablespoons of the mixture and keep it seperately, as you will need it for the topping later on. Add the almonds, cinnamon, bitter almond flavor and vanilla sugar to the remaining egg white-mixture. Knead the dough and dust the surface of your working area with ground almonds or flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface. Spread the dough using a rolling pin until it is approximately 1 cm thick.

 

Use whichever cookie cutters you like, however stars are traditionally used. Next, place the cut-out dough on baking paper and cover the dough with the egg white-sugar mix you set aside earlier. I usually do this with a brush, however spoons should work as well.

Place the cookies in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Check regularly to make sure that the cookies are not baked for too long, as the topping should stay white. Let the cookies cool off for a while before packaging them, as they are very fragile while they are still warm.

Other christmas-recipes will follow soon, so please revisit this site if you are interested in more recipes! Happy holidays!