Plätzchen

Continuing a tradition I began when I was a kid, every year I make and decorate Christmas cookies for the members of my extended family. This year I decided to expand upon this, and make six kinds of traditional German Christmas cookies instead of the traditional sugar cookies. It's traditional in Germany to make various types of these cookies during advent. They tend to be smaller than what we in the United States think of as christmas cookies, and people often give each other bags containing an assortment of kinds. This is what I made for my family as well, and it contained Vanillekipferl (one of the most famous of German Christmas cookies), Lebkuchen (chocolate covered gingerbread), Zimtsterne (which are a lot of work, but absolutely delicious), Schoko-Stangerl (chocolate-orange cookies dipped in melted chocolate), Teegebäck (simple, sweet, vanilla cookies), Bethmännchen (little almond balls that taste of marzipan), and Mini-Stollen (a smaller version of the German traditional Christmas dessert, Stollen).

Before I describe the recipes, I thought I would add a note about Christmas in Germany. I didn't say anything about this before, and I thought it would be nice to share some of what I've learned. In one of my classes full of international students, we had a brief discussion about what Christmas was like in our home countries. In Germany, families celebrate on the 24th, rather than the 25th, and Santa doesn't come down the chimney. Instead, during dinner or while the children are otherwise entertained, the presents are laid under the tree and soon a bell rings signaling that the Christkind, or Baby Jesus, has come and delivered the presents. Saint Nikolaus comes on the 6th of December, rather than the 24th, and leaves chocolate and oranges in the shoes children have left outside their bedroom doors or at the foot of their beds. It's a similar concept to stockings, but it happens during advent. Advent in general seems to be more celebrated. Not only are there advent calendars of every kind, but many families have advent wreaths, where one candle is lit each Sunday of advent until all four are burning on the last Sunday. I'm sure many families in the U.S. have this tradition as well, but it was something I hadn't encountered until I got here.

After discussing Christmas traditions in various countries, one of the students sitting at my table asked me "Is Christmas in America really how they show it in the movies?" Unsure of what exactly is portrayed in American movies about Christmas, I asked for clarification. "Like, the kids all wait up and sneak down to try to see Santa, and then everyone wakes up early in the morning and opens piles of presents under the tree?" "Uhh, yeah, that's pretty much how it is!" was my oh-so intelligent response. But I'm glad to say that at least one thing about American culture portrayed in American films is true - and at least it's one as romantic and treasured as Christmas morning.

And now, for the recipes. I got these recipes from a magazine I bought at the grocery store called "Meine Familie und Ich" (My Family and I). It has many other recipes, but the cover story was "Plätzchen aus Omas Schatzkästchen," or Christmas Cookies form Grandma's Treasure Box. This seemed like a good place to find traditional recipes that I could follow. I brought many of the ingredients necessary home from Germany (the people at customs must have thought I was crazy), either because they would be easier to find there, or cheaper. Unfortunately this means that I cannot help with substitutions, however most of the ingredients should be available in the U.S. or elsewhere abroad.

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)

Ingredients:

280 g Flour

170 g Sugar

100 g Ground Walnuts

1 Pinch Salt

210 g Butter (Cold)
100 g Powdered Sugar

1 Vanilla Pod

Directions:

Combine the flour with 70 grams of sugar, the walnuts, and the salt. Cut the butter into pieces and mix it in by hand, creating a smooth dough. Roll the dough into a log about 5 cm thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Slice pieces from the roll of dough about a finger's width thick and form into crescents. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Lay the cookies on a baking sheet spread with parchment paper, and bake for about 12 minutes.

While the cookies are baking, combine the powdered sugar with the remaining sugar (100 grams). Slice open the vanilla pod and remove the beans. Mix the vanilla beans into the sugar mixture, and once the cookies are removed from the oven, use a fork to cover them with the vanilla sugar while they are still warm.

Elisen-Lebkuchen (Chocolate Covered Gingerbread)

Ingredients:

4 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

150 g Powdered Sugar

2 Teaspoons Gingerbread Spice*

200 g Ground Almonds

200 g Ground Hazelnuts

1 Pinch Salt

1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest

Around 60 Wafer Papers (5 cm diameter)**

150 g Melting Chocolate

2 Tablespoons Chopped Almonds

*I could not find this before I left Germany, so I googled a recipe for it. It was mostly cinnamon, with a small amount of nutmeg, mace, cloves, allspice, and ginger.

**Wafer papers are edible circles that you can bake on, as pictured below. I brought these with me from Germany, but I would guess they are available somewhere in the U.S.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Combine the eggs, lemon juice, and powdered sugar and mix with a handmixer for about ten minutes, until it is thick. Stir in the gingerbread spice, ground almonds, hazelnuts, salt, and lemon zest.

Lay out the wafer papers on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place a teaspoon of the dough on each wafer, in bake for about 15 minutes. Take them out and allow them to cool. The dough does not expand, so feel free to cover the wafer entirely (pictured is my first batch, before I had figured that out).

Before Going into the Oven

While the cookies cool, melt the chocolate, and once they are cool dip them in it. Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top, and leave until the glaze has hardened.

The wafer paper in the final product

Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars)

Ingredients: 

4 Egg Whites

1 Pinch Salt

350 g Powdered Sugar

500 g Ground Almonds

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Zest

1 Tablespoon Quince Jelly

Sugar for Rolling

Directions:

Whip the egg whites and salt together, while slowly adding the powdered sugar. Whip for 10 minutes on the highest level of your handmixer. Set aside five tablespoons of the egg white mixture.

Add the cinnamon, lemon zest, and quince jelly to the remaining egg white mixture, and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

Roll out small portions of the dough five mm thick onto a surface coated with sugar. Cut out stars using cookie cutters of various sizes, dipping the cookie cutter into sugar before each cookie. Place the stars on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and paint the stars with the egg white mixture that you saved. Let sit for one hour, or until the icing has dried.

Waiting to go into the oven

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius and bake for 12-14 minutes. They should be bright white on top and soft in texture.

The finished product

Schoko-Stangerl (Chocolate Sticks)

Ingredients:

200 g Butter (Room Temperature)

2 Oranges

100 g Bittersweet Baking Chocolate

100 g Powdered Sugar

1 Pinch Salt

2 Egg Yolks (Medium)

80 g Ground Hazelnuts

300 g Flour

150 g Dark Melting Chocolate*

*This is something that exists in Germany, that I'm not sure does anywhere else. You can always melt baking chocolate and add sugar, or melt a dark chocolate candy bar. It is essentially melted, sweet, dark chocolate, made for dipping sweets into, as it forms a hard shell as it cools.

Directions:

Place the butter in a bowl and mix for ten minutes with a handmixer, until the volume has distinctly increased.

Wash, dry, and zest the oranges. Melt the baking chocolate (I did this using my double-boiler, which is the best for melting chocolate, but you can also use a bowl inside a pot of boiling water or add some oil to the chocolate and melt it directly in the pot). 

Stir the powdered sugar, salt, egg yolks, hazelnuts, and orange zest into the butter. Mix in the melted chocolate, and then add the flour and mix.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put the dough in a pastry bag with a ridged tip (I pushed the dough through the tip with my fingers, as my pastry bag was not strong enough) and squeeze out 10 cm long strips onto a cookie sheet lines with parchment paper. Cook for 8 minutes and allow to cool.

Melt the melting chocolate and dip into it the side or the end of each cookie-stick. Let cool until the glaze has dried.

Teegebäck (Tea Cookies)

Ingredients:

150 g Butter

50 g Powdered Sugar

1 Teaspoon Bourbon-Vanilla-Sugar*

1 Pinch Salt

50 g Sour Cream (at least 10% fat)

275 g Flour

1 Egg White

100 g Sugar Crystals

*This is sold in packages in Germany, but you could probably make your own by adding a drop of vanilla and bourbon to a tablespoon or so of sugar

Directions:

Mix together the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla-sugar, and salt. Work in the sour cream and flour, alternating as you go, until you have a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Roll out the dough 3 mm thick, and cut out small squares.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mix the egg whites briefly, and then paint the cookies with them. Sprinkle the sugar crystals on top.

Place the cookies on a cookie sheet coated with parchment paper and bake for about 10 minutes, or until they are golden-brown. Remove and allow to cool.

Bethmännchen (Marzipan/Almond Balls)

Ingredients:
50 g Peeled Almond Slices

250 g Marzipan Paste

2 Egg Whites

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Flour

80 g Powdered Sugar

1 Teaspoon Rosewater

Directions:

Combine one egg white with the marzipan, lemon juice, flour, and powdered sugar, kneading it with your hands. Form about 30 balls, and decorate each with about three almond slices.

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees Celsius. Place the balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Combine the remaining egg white with the rose water and sprinkle the mixture over the marzipan balls. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden-brown.

You can place them in mini muffin wrappers for presentation:

Mini-Stollen

Ingredients:

For the dough:

250 g flour

1 Package Dry Yeast (7g)

2 Tablespoons Lukewarm Milk

70 g Sugar

125 g Quark

1 Pinch Salt

1 Egg

100 g Butter

80 g Raisins

50 g Candied Orange Peel

50 g Candied Lemon Peel

Lemon Juice

For the Coating:

100 g Butter

100 g Powdered Sugar

Directions:
Place the flour in a bowl and make an indentation. Mix the yeast with the milk and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and pour this mixture into the indentation. Sprinkle with flour from the outside and cover. Let sit for 30 minutes.

Knead the quark, salt, egg, remaining sugar, butter, raisins, orange peel, and lemon peel into the dough. Cover and let sit for another 30 minutes in a warm location.

Roll the dough out 2.5 cm thick and cut into two rectangles, each 10 cm by 20 cm. Roll the rectangles the long way, so that you have two cylinders of dough.

Lay the stollen on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and let sit for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Melt the butter, coat the stollen with it, and then sprinkle powdered sugar on until it forms a 1 cm thick coat.

Enjoy!