London mum and wannabe illustrator. On a mission to find a decent way into motherhood without losing herself. 
Way too little cards on display. Might need to send myself some cards
Finally, it’s the season of comfort and joy again. Time to go overboard on Christmas decorations, buy presents for family and friends, write Christmas cards and wish lists, sit together around the table and feast (have I mentioned that there will be the whole family sitting around our table this Sunday, hoping to be fed? shriek!) and, most importantly, bake Christmas biscuits.
Mmm... Zimtsterne!
Christmas biscuits must be by far my absolute favourite Austrian/German Christmas tradition. To begin with and as a little warm up, I decided to start off with ‘Zimtsterne’, cinnamon stars.
To bake about 40 of these heavenly delights, you’ll need:
Biscuit baking chaos
- 3 egg whites
- 200g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
- 400g ground almonds
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Beat egg whites until firm. Slowly mix in vanilla sugar and icing sugar. Save a cup full of the mixture in the fridge for later.
Mix the rest with almonds and cinnamon powder.
Preheat oven to 130°C (fan) and place baking paper on a tray.
Roll out the dough in between two sheets of baking paper, about 0.5-0.7mm thick. Dip star cookie cutter in cold water and place the cut out stars on the tray.
See the little red cup? The secret is in the Gloegg!
Take the egg white mixture from the fridge and spread onto the stars, either with a baking brush or a tablespoon (I place a little dot in the middle and slowly ‘draw’ it to the edges).
Place tray in the middle of the oven and bake stars between 20-25 minutes. The icing mustn’t go brown. Let them cool down completely before taking them off the tray. They tend to stick to the tray before completely cooled down.
Don't go too close. You don't want to burn your nose. Again.
Baking is best accompanied by loud Christmassy music and a mug of Gloegg (Swedish mulled wine) or two.
Speaking of Swedish, time to get ready for Sunday. Lucia is coming…
For more continental European Christmas baking, head over to Mummy do that! and try her delicious Vanillekipferl (vanilla half moons).
It’s Yuletide! Or: a recipe for cinnamon stars (Zimtsterne)
yummy, book marking to try later
Mmmmm- they look yummy. I will try them out with the girls next week. Suggestions where to buy Gloegg please. :0)
Mmm, I definitely would like to try those cookies. I’ll bake up a batch for Christmas, thanks for the recipe
oh you beat me to the recipe! How dare you
Admittedly, yours look better than mine, you can compare tomorrow when my post goes up.
Enjoy!
Sounds delicious. Maybe in my new domestic goddess persona I will try them….
So good. I’m exceedingly jealous of your lovely kitchen – I’m going to try some if I can find some ground almonds
@TheMad House: And quite easy to do, too.
@ChicMama: IKEA
Just call and check before you go there. They are sold out quickly. Or try totallyswedish.com
@Margarita: You could transform the recipe into a starry cinnamon cupcake variation? Mmmm…
@cartisde: I had to throw out the first batch as I forgot (!) to put on the icing before it went into the oven. Just don’t tell anybody
@Nappey Valley Girl: Just have a go at them. As long as there’s enough Gloegg, almost nothing can go wrong!
@Now I know why. Your kitchen is a joke (sorry). What were they thinking???
I’d love to see all that Lucia light in person, it’s beautiful, but Sweden is too far for me right now, sniff!
Ooh, I adore your kitchen. I suddenly feel very un-domesiticated! And I want your fireplace! And why are you not covered in flour? That always happens when I attempt to bake.
@marta: Hi and thanks for stopping by! I am going to try and re-create Lucia for the family this Sunday in London. Well, at least I’ll try and make some of the typical food. It’s gonna be messy
@Rosie: Hahaha. The recipe is flour-less.
Woohoo! Zimsterne here we come! xxx
You’ve got a lovely drinks collection too as well as a shiny red kitchen. Biscuits look fab!
Fabulous. I am going to try and make some. I think I might have some secret Germanic or Scandanavian blood as I adore cinnamon buns, Gloegg , princess torte, sauerkraut and rye bread- in fact I’m going to post about it. Thanks for the recipe and also belatedly saying I hope you had a beautiful Lucia.