Cinnamon Stars

Pretty and tasty.

Yesterday I didn’t bake because I taught in the evening. That’s my Thursday evening activity: teaching German to little children. After that I am too tired to do anything but go sit and maybe have a glass of wine. But thankfully I baked a bit more so here comes another favourite German Christmas cookie recipe. Cinnamon Stars are quite common all over Germany I would say. As with many recipes, this comes in different forms as well, some add a spice here or there, or have a different way of preparing it.

Even if you look into several baking books you probably would find variations. It all depends on the location, family tradition and ingredients available. I know my family doesn’t do these on a regular basis, frankly, I don’t recall those ever be made at my mother’s house. So, who loves and experiment? Me of course.

Ingredients:

– 500g ground almonds
– 3 egg white
– 400g icing sugar
– 1 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
– 2 tbsp. Kirschwasser (cherry liquor) or lemon juice

Whisk egg white in your mixer until foamy and stiff. Gradually add sifted icing sugar to it until it forms into a meringue. Take about 1/3 of meringue aside for later use (cover well) and mix the rest together with ground almonds, cinnamon and Kirschwasser or lemong juice into a dough.

Do you see all the ingredients?

Dust the working table with icing sugar and roll out the dough about 1/2 cm thick. Take a star cookie cutter and cut as many as possible. They might stick to the working table so use a cookie spatula. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper. Rework the dough until finished. Take out the meringue you set aside later and glaze all stars with it. Let the cookies sit until the next day and then bake at 180°C for about 8-10 min. The meringue should stay white or only be slightly brown on the edges.

Cut and glazed, now wait.

Tip 1: Since this recipe asks for a lot ground almonds I recommend you buy a bulk bag and grind them yourself. It might not be as fine as the store bought one but that is ok. The consistency of cinnamon stars can be somewhat chunky. Try to grind it as much as possible though.

Tip 2: Use good cinnamon for this recipe because the cinnamon flavour is important here. I am not sure how fine you can grind cinnamon sticks though.