Zimtsterne and Heidesand-Cookies from Germany
I have been making some of the cookies from different moments of my childhood and while I have already written about Vanilla Kipfel, I made a couple of others recently: Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars) and Heidesand. One of the things you can always count on with a cookie from my time in Germany, is that they contain butter and nuts. What is not to like?
I learned to bake them with my second Rotary Exchange family, the Degwitz’s. In the evenings before Christmas we would baka a batch of cookies and put them away. Every afternoon during afternoon tea, the cookies would come out and out of this my tradition of the “Christmas Club” was born. Christmas Club was what Elena and I called the evenings before Christmas when we would eat our cookies and watch a Christmas movie. These cookies bring back such wonderful memotires.
Zimtsterne
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanialla
3 drops almond oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 ¼ -3 ¼ cup ground hazelnuts
Preparation:
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, beating constantly, reserving 2 tablesppons of the mixture for a glaze. To the rest, add the vanilla and about ½ of the nuts, the almond oil and cinnamon. Add the nuts until the dough is no longer sticky. Roll out on a board covered with powdered sugar until ¼ inch thick. Cut into stars and place on a well-greased cookie sheet. Brush the top of each with the reserved glaze. (Be sure the glaze is evenly applied so that the cookies have a nice look). If the glaze is too thick, add few drops of water. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes.
Heidesand
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1 ¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Preparation:
Brown the butter and then cool. Beat the butter and slowly add the sugar. Add the vanilla and milk and beat until the mixture becomes whiter. Add the baking powder and 2/3 of the flour. Add the remaining flour until the dough is not sticky. Knead together on a flat surface and roll until a long roll 1 inch in diameter. Cover and let chill until well set. Slice into ¼ inch slices and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Do let them become too brown.
