1 month to go till Christmas …. Time to bake some Christmas cookies. The first time I made those Cinnamon Stars was in primary school. Ever since they were in the back of my head. When I made them again last Christmas in Stavanger, Norway the whole office was completely crazy about them. Now they had a new recipe to change others around, because Norwegian tradition dictates to bake 7 different kinds of Christmas cookies. In Germany we don’t have such a tradition – you may bake as many or little kinds as you like.
With this easy recipe for Cinnamon Stars, I hope your family will be as crazy about the Zimtsterne, as my fellow colleagues were, which is why this will be my very first Christmas recipe for you.
For 2 baking trays Zimtsterne you need
- 2 beaten egg whites
- 300g / 10.5oz icing sugar
- 500g /17.5oz ground almonds
- 2 tsp cinnamon (or more if you want a more intense taste)
- 2 tbsp almond liquor
- 2 drops of bitter almond fragrance
For the icing of the Cinnamon Stars
- 1 egg white
- 125g /4.5oz icing sugar
- Mix all the ingredients together and roll the dough out on top of cellophane, so they won’t stick to your working surface. Don’t worry, the dough will be quite dry.
- Roll the dough quite thick, as the stars won’t get bigger during baking and by that they stay softer for longer.
- Although they are called stars, use any cookie cutter you have and put them on a baking baking tray covered with baking paper.
- Mix the egg white and the icing sugar for the icing and apply on top and the sides of the stars with a brush. If you have food coloring available, use that to give the cookies some color.
Bake the “Zimtsterne” in this case hearts for about 10 minutes at 150°C (300°F). The icing should be still white and the cookies soft.- Store them well in a tight cookie box. Then they should last 2-3 weeks, unless the whole family eats them before.
