• Dec. 22, 2006
Zimtsterne - Step By Step
Now, for the best ever Christmas cookie! It's a tradition that we brought back from Switzerland. It's fairly easy to make, although a little time consuming, but a lot of fun, and would be a great thing to do with kids, because you get to 'paint' the cookies at the end. :) Please keep in mind that it's a European recipe, so everything is in metric weight. Sorry! If you want to convert it into cups/pounds, go for it! Without further ado:
ZIMTSTERNE (Cinnamon Stars)
Ingredients:
4 Egg Whites
400 grams (Just under a pound) Icing Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
470 grams (A touch over a pound) Ground Almond (Find in bulk at the Grocery store)
4 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Lemon Rind
Separate the eggs, and set aside the egg yolks. If I have time I'll post a cookie recipe that just uses the yolks, and then you can get rid of them!
In a large bowl, beat the Egg Whites until very stiff. (We use the electric mixer) Add the Icing Sugar to the egg whites in small spoonfuls so that the beater doesn't make the tiny particles fly all over the kitchen. :) Set aside just under half a cup (130 millilitres) of the mixture. (It usually has millilitres on one side of a measuring cup.)
The set-aside icing sugar/egg white mixture.
Now, in another large bowl, mix the Cinnamon, Lemon Juice, and Lemon Rind into the Ground Almond. Next, mix in the almond mixture into the large amount (NOT the set aside amount) of icing/egg white mixture. This takes a little time and patience. When this is mixed together, it should be dough-ish texture, not wet and gloopy. If it is, you might have to add a tad more ground almond. Spread out a tea-towel on the counter, and sprinkle with white sugar. Take half the dough and shape it into a disk-like figure. Place it on the tea-towel and sprinkle it with white sugar too. Now, gently roll it out to about 1/2 - 3/4 cm thick.
Seeing as it's Zimtsterne we use the typical 6 pointed star cookie-cutter, (you could use any star that doesn't have long, thin points for the dough to get stuck in) but you could also do different shapes. As you'll see at the end, we do a few weird shapes with the last rolling...whatever happens. :)
Fill a little bowl with white sugar, this is the 'grease' that you dip the cutter in so that it won't stick so much to the dough.
You will still want to wash the cutter after every 2-3-4 cookies, depending on your cutter. Wash in the tips of the points of the star too! Don't forget to dry it very carefully after washing each time.
(I just noticed that you can see the dog's nose in this one on the bottom right corner!!!)
Place the cut-outs on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it.
Throw the little bits into a bowl for the other rollings.
Do the same (roll out on sugar, cut, and place on cookie sheet) with the other piece of dough, and then with the bits in the bowl. At the end you may get tired of trying to make them all stars, and then we just cut the dough however it is, and make them into oddly-shaped cookies. It's fun to see what shapes you get! ("Oh, look, there's a swan flying...that one looks like a chipmunk"!)
This is the fun part!!! Now you get to paint the cookies. It's a great thing to do with the younger ones if there are any, because they can do it. :) Pull out the set-aside icing and egg white mix.
You will need a little brush or two with which to paint them. Even a couple old (CLEAN) small paint brushes would work fine. Dip the brush in the 'paint'.
Paint the cookies right to the edge of the star, make sure it's evenly covered and very white, you don't want to see the cookie underneath! :)
Leave them over night on the counter or table to dry out. In the morning, bake them for 3-5 minutes at 250 (482 Farenheit) degrees Celsius. Technically, they aren't supposed to get even slightly brown, they are supposed to be pristine white. But ours are always slightly brown every year. I didn't know they were supposed to stay white until yesterday! :)
The finished product:
(See the weird shapes on the right tray on top?)
The best cookie ever: ZIMTSTERNE!!!!!!!
Hope you enjoy them!
Sheila
Comments
• Dec. 23, 2006
YIummy!
Posted by Maria
Well, they look really good... Your dog has a cute nose. :D
By the way, when my family does Norwegian recipes that need ground almonds, (like kransekake) we grind whole almonds in our meat grinder. So you could grind them at home if you wanted too.
• Dec. 23, 2006
Yes!
Posted by ChristsInstrument
Yes, quite true, you could! :)
• Dec. 24, 2006
Thanks!
Posted by Mariah
Wow! Thanks for the recipe, it looks like a lot of work posting that! They look delicious! Maybe I can make them today if we have everything for them.
