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| Christmas cookies. Foto: Heike Pater |
Baking at Christmas time, we all do it, we all love it! This week’s practical session was all about baking. After learning how to make flatbrod and lefser our task was baking Christmas cookies typical for our home country. As I am from Germany, I decided to make Vanillekipferland Ausstechplätzchen.
The history of Christmas cookies is tied to ancient winter solstice celebrations. In the 10th and 11th centuries, people around the world, from Norway to Africa and India, celebrated winter solstice as a way to mark the changing seasons. During these celebrations, which focused on activities like gathering, sorting, and storing food, there was a tradition of feasting. Winter was considered a time of scarcity because the weather made it difficult to grow crops or hunt.
As part of these celebrations, people would prepare large amounts of cookies, among other foods, to share with the community. The practice of exchanging homemade sweets and handcrafted items as gifts during the holiday season has deep historical roots. The idea was to spread the spirit of the season and share the bounty of the last harvest. Over time, these traditions evolved, and today, Christmas cookies are a cherished part of holiday festivities in many cultures. (Gupta, 2019)
So, let’s get started with Vanillekipferl!
The first thing I did was go the store to find all the ingredients that I needed. I could not find ground almonds anywhere, but I decided not to let that stop me. I bought regular almonds that I just added to a blender. Then I had my ground almonds.
I started by adding flour, ground almonds and powdered sugar to a bowl and gave it a little mix. Then I added half of the vanilla bean, salt, butter in pieces and egg yolks and used my hands to knead. After kneading for a while, I ended up with the dough. I covered it with cling wrap and put it in the fridge for one hour.
After one hour I took it out of the fridge and preheated the oven to 180 degrees (top bottom heat). Then I started to form little croissant looking pieces out of the dough and placed them on a baking sheet. Some turned out better than others, but that’s okay. I placed them in the oven for about 13 minutes, took them out and rolled them in the powdered sugar mixture. Then I let them cool off and they were done!
EVERYTHING YOU NEED
Flour (150g) Ground almonds (50g) Powdered sugar (60g) Vanilla bean (half) Salt (just a little sprinkle) Cold butter (110g) Egg yolk (2)
FOR THE POWDERED SUGAR MIXTURE
Powdered sugar (60g) Vanilla sugar (1 teaspoon)
INSTRUCTIONS 1. Mix flour, ground almonds and powdered sugar. 2. Add vanilla, salt, butter in pieces and egg yolks and knead until it becomes a dough. 3. Cover the dough with cling wrap and leave it in the fridge for one hour. 4. Take out the dough and preheat the oven to 180 degreed. 5. Form little croissants out of the dough and place them on a baking sheet. 6. Bake for about 13 minutes. 7. Take the cookies out of the oven and roll them in the powdered sugar mixture. 8. Let the cookies cool off. 9. DONE! Next, Ausstechplätzchen!
Making this dough is very simple. Just mix all the ingredients together. You can use a kitchen machine or your hands. Or start with a kitchen machine and then finish by kneading with your hands. Cover the dough in cling wrap and leave it in the fridge for an hour.
I took out the dough out and preheated the oven to 170 degrees. At this point I got help from my friend from Ireland because we all know: baking is more fun when you don’t do it alone. So, I showed her German Christmas songs and made her help me cut out the cookies. We divided the dough into two portions and rolled it out using rolling pins. We decided to use heart and star shaped cookie cutters as well as a bell, an angel, a christmas tree and we each made a pig just because it looked cool. We placed everthing on baking sheets and baked the cookies for about 17 minutes. After that, we brushed the cookies with sugar icing and they were done!
EVERYTHING YOU NEED
Flour (250g) Butter (125g) Sugar (75g) Baking powder (1/4 of a teaspoon) Salt (just a little sprinkle) Vanilla sugar (half a teaspoon) Egg (1) Optional: Vanilla bean (a little bit)
INSTRUCTIONS 1. Mix all the ingredients together. 2. Form the dough and cover it in cling wrap. 3. Leave it in the fridge for one hour. 4. Preheat the oven. 5. Roll out the dough and cut out cookies using cookie cutters. (your choice which ones) 6. Bake the cookies for about 17 minutes. 7. Take them out of the oven and brush them with sugar icing. 8. Let them cool off. 9. DONE!
I took the rest of my cookies to a party that night and everyone loved them! References Gupta, K. (2019, December 6). History And Culture Of Christmas Cookies - CulturallyOurs. CulturallyOurs. https://culturallyours.com/2019/12/04/history-and-culture-of-christmas-cookies/ |
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