German xmas biscuits evoke the smell of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and vanilla. The taste of freshly home baked Xmas biscuits is a wonderful tradition my family enjoy in december.
The following biscuit recipes have been tried and tested by my kids and I. I discovered them when I lived in Germany where the culture of home baked Xmas biscuits is widespread and deeply rooted.
CINNAMON STARS / ZIMTSTERNE
Quantity: 70 stars
Oven temperature: 160 degrees
Baking Time: 7-8min
Ingredients:
500 g ground almonds
5 egg whites
450g icing sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbl rose water
Icing sugar snow for stars
- Beat egg whites until they are stiff
- Add sifted icing sugar
- Keep 1 cup of this icing sugar mixture aside to coat the biscuits later and the rest you will use to create the biscuit dough
Biscuit mixture
- Add almonds, cinnamon and rose water to the icing sugar mixture. Mix together quickly.
- cover dough and store in the fridge for at 1 hour.
Making the stars
- Sprinkle surface with sugar and roll out the dough (thickness about 1cm). Cut out stars.
- Paint each star with the icing sugar snow ( made earlier)
- leave cut biscuits on a tray in the oven overnight to dry out before baking them, then bake them in preheated oven at 160 degrees for 7-8 min
- Or bake them immediately in preheated oven at 160 degrees for 7- 8 min
GERMAN LEBKUCHEN /HONEY CAKES
Quantity : 35 biscuits
Oven temperature: 220 degrees
Baking Time: 35-40 min
Ingredients:
200g honey
200g sugar
2 eggs
Freshly grated peel of a lemon
100g chopped candied orange and lemon peel
70g almond sticks
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of:
salt,grated nutmeg, cloves, cardamom
500 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
- Heat and mix the honey and sugar. Leave to cool
- Mix eggs, grated lemon peel, almond sticks and all the spices
- Add sifted flour and baking powder
- Mix and knead into a dough
- Sprinkle flour onto a surface
- Roll out dough –approx ½ cm thick and cut into squares
- Bake at 220 degrees for about 35-40 min.
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