Vanillekipferl (Vanillacrescents) & Zimtsterne (Cinnamonstars)

A Christmas classic, - now also in English!

See here for the Danish version :-)

Zimsterne

Zimtsterne/ Cinnamon Stars
(from 150 Rezepte, Advents-Backstube 04/12)
Approx. 40 cookies

Ingredients:

3 egg whites
250 grams icing sugar + extra for rollinf
1 tsp. vanilla sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
125 grams almond flour (ground almonds)
200 grams hazelnut flour (ground hazelnuts)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F./ 150 degress C.
Prepare 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.

1. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Sieve in the icing sugar and fold it into the egg whites.
2. Put 10 tbsp. in a bowl, set aside for later.
3. Add cinnamon, almond flour and hazelnut flout to the egg white mixture and mix it together.
4. Sprinkle your work-surface with icing sugar, roll out the dough 0.5 cm/ 0.2 inch thickness.
5. Use a star-shaped cookie cutter and cut out stars. The dough can be pretty sticky, so make sure to use plenty of icing sugar.
6. Place the stars on the baking sheets. Brush the cookies with the egg-white mixture you set aside earlier. *If the mixture seems too thin, mix in 1 tbsp. of icing sugar. 
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
8. Transfer cookies to cookie rack and allow them to cool completely.
9. Store in air-tight container.

De rise a lot in the oven.

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Zimsterne & Vanillekipferl

Vanillekipferl / Vanillacrescents

( fra Die grosse Advents-Bäckerei 2012)

Approx. 55 cookies

Ingredients:

100 grams white sugar

2 tsp. vanilla seeds (from to vanilla pods)

250 grams white unbleached flour

200 grams unsalted butter, cut in smaller pieces

100 grams almond flour (ground almonds)

1 pinch of salt

2-3 tbsp. icing sugar

Directions:

1. Mix the sugar with the vanilla seeds.
2. Set 70 grams aside for later.
3. Mix the vanilla-sugar mixture with flour, butter, almond flour and salt. 
4. Knead it together to a smooth dough. 
5. Roll it to a ball, wrap it in plastic wrapper and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degress F. / 180 degrees C. Prepare 4 bakings sheets with parchment paper.
7. Remove the dough from the fridge, roll it to a bars/sticks and cut into 55 pieces. 
8. Roll and shape to a "horseshoe" - look at the picture below.

 

1. Take a piece of dough.
2. Roll to a stick, best to use both hands, so it will be thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges
3. Take the ends and shape them towards each other, to create the horseshoe shape.
4. Voila - a horseshoe - kipferl - crescent :-)

1. Place them on the baking sheet, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
2. Let them cool in the baking sheet for a couple of minutes. *! DON'T remove them from the baking sheet within the first minutes, - they will break. They are really fragile whilst still hot.
3. After de have cooled down, - but still warm, turn them in the vanilla sugar you put aside earlier. 
4. If there isn't enough vanilla sugar, mix 4 tbsp. of sugar with 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
5. Let cool completely, - store in airtight container.

Pebernødder - Peppernuts - Pfeffernüsse

Today this blogpost will be in English, in honor of my great 408 class & professor who asked for the recipe for peppernuts (pebernødder). We had a potluck in class today (sammenskudsgilde) and I brought peppernuts. Do I have to say they were a success?
There is a reason why people in Denmark buy, eat and bake them each year around Christmas time. I used "Lagkagehuset's" (danish bakery) recipe, and yeah, they turned out amazing, like always.

I halved the recipe since I didn't want to bake too many, but since they are pretty small and disappear fast, you might want to double the recipe :-)

Peppernuts - Pebernødder - Pfeffernüsse

(Lagkagehusets recipe)

Around 150 small cookies

Ingredients:
125 grams / 1/2 cup unsalted softened butter (salted works ok though)
125 grams / 1 cup + 1 tbsp.  sugar (white or cane)
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. white pepper (can use black - white is the best though)
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 dL / 0.2 cups cream (or milk)
250 grams / 2 cups white unbleached flour


Directions:
Preheat the oven on 400 degrees F/ 200 degrees C.

1. Prepare 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk/Stir together butter and sugar. 
3. Mix flour with spices, baking soda and baking powder.
4. Mix flour mixture with butter and cream. Knead the dough together, it will come together almost like a bread dough.
5. Roll the dough out to long bars/sticks, approx. the size of the little finger and cut in 0.5 inch/1 cm slices. 
6. Place the cookies on the baking sheet, with 0.5 inch/1 cm distance between each.
7. Bake around 10 minutes, the cookies have to be light brown. 
8. Cool on cookie rack. - When the cookies have cooled off, store in airtight container.