A seductive fragrance wafts through shops, bakery and Christmas markets! Delicious Christmas pastries always sweeten our time until Christmas Eve. The tradition of baking on holidays goes back to the pre-Christian period. Cookies – “flat cakes” – are probably the most popular Christmas cookies. Whether cutting out, modeling, injecting, shaping by hand – decorated or pur- is the main thing in 2015 is the motto in 2015. The shortcrust pastry is diverse and, in addition to gingerbread, Christmas stollen and Co., gives us one of the tastiest treats of the year. We put together some of our favorites again this year and didn’t want to do without a German classic.
Vanilla crescent – sweet treat made from shortcrust pastry
For a normal portion:
- 300g flour
- 200g butter
- 100g sugar
- 100g ground almonds
- 1 egg yolk
For decorating: vanilla and powdered sugar
First sift the flour and knead with the butter to form a dough. Then add the sugar and almonds. Knead quickly with the egg yolk. Now chill the dough for 30 minutes and then form half moons of the same size (Kipferl) and spread out on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. In the meantime, preheat the oven and bake the croissants at 150°C. Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla sugar and turn the still warm croissants in it. If you like it in terms of fruit and fresh, you can also add dried fruits such as cranberries to the dough if necessary.
Cinnamon stars
- 190g powdered sugar
- 100g ground almonds
- 200g ground nuts
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- splash of lemon juice
Beat the egg whites and powdered sugar into a stiff glaze. Set aside about 1/3 of them. Process the remaining glaze with the other ingredients (but initially only 100g nuts). Important, not with the whisk but carefully fold in with a spoon. Knead through at the end. Lay the remaining nuts on a tray, place the dough rolled out about 8mm thick on top and cut out stars.
Then place the stars on a baking sheet with baking paper and generously brush with the remaining glaze. Bake the stars at 150°C for about 10-12 minutes. After about 8 minutes, open the oven for the rest of the baking time a small gap, so the cinnamon stars become particularly fluffy.
Homemade mulled wine-spicy heat guarantor
- 750ml dry white wine
- 750ml rose wine
- 1500ml dry red wine
- 300g sugar
- 1 untreated lemon and orange each
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
- 5 cloves
- 2 star anise
Pour the different types of wine into a large pot and slowly heat up on a low flame. Important, the wine must not cook! Slice the lemon and orange and add to the wine along with the spices. Gradually add the sugar.
This only unfolds its effect after some time, so that the entire amount does not have to be added right away. Depending on your taste, nutmeg or pimento also goes very well in the mulled wine, but a maximum of one knife tip of each of them. Spirits such as Cointreau, brown rum or amaretto also give the warm wine a special touch.
