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Gingerbread House – No children required

Posted on December 9, 2011 by andreamacleod

Not perfect, but so much fun.

This one is so much fun and I don’t need to write down the full recipe. *yeah* Gingerbread houses seem to be a must over here. We have them too back home but over here it’s a bit more crazy. Everything seems to be a bit bigger or crazy over here. The other day I even saw an already full assembled gingerbread house. You only need to put on the candy. But how much fun is that? Isn’t it much cooler to make the dough and cut the shapes and put it together to finally decorate it? If you would like to do so with your kids (or by yourself) then keep reading.

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The “No baking” post

Posted on December 8, 2011 by andreamacleod

I would love to have this one.

I wanted to tell you what you need to make a gingerbread house and how you would go about this. But apparently my computer here doesn’t like my flash drive. Now that was a first so I am without pictures and there is no point in posting a “how to” without pictures. As a result you get a post without baking, well, maybe some tips that I can think of. On the other hand, I can talk about some random things, like that apron.

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Stollen

Posted on December 7, 2011 by andreamacleod

The final product. A little dry but still tasty.

Since we are pretty much through with the Christmas Cookies I’ll give you another great Christmas recipe: Stollen (or as my family says Stolle). This is a Christmas cake so to speak made from a yeast dough. I guess it is similar to fruit cake, but not. I think Stollen is a thing by it’s own and can’t really be compared to anything else. Like Strudel, you can’t compare that to anything else either. This recipe comes from mother, like so many others, and I would assume it was handed down from grandma.

Interestingly, I don’t recall anyone ever making it. Most of the time we bought our Stollen from the bakery. By now you probably know that I don’t like raisins which means Stollen is not really the thing for me. However, there are other options, like Nougat Stollen or Poppy seed Stollen (not that I like poppy seed but for those who do this is great). This year of course I had to try it and make my own. See the results after the “Read the rest”.

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German Gingerbread

Posted on December 6, 2011 by andreamacleod

Gingerbread angle, any shape as long as it’s fresh.

This recipe concludes, for now, the Christmas Cookie bake off. In total I made 10 recipes and I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did when making them. I think there will be one or two more cookie recipes later on but this is a good base for your Christmas. So, with further ado I present the German Gingerbread recipe.

Now you might say “Gingerbread is Gingerbread, where is the difference?” Well, the other day I got gingerbread man cookies in a cookie exchange and they were good but different. (Thanks Melissa for making them for us.) The ones I got were flatter than I am used to and more crunchy. I haven’t really compared recipes with the maker of said gingerbread men so I can not give any details about that difference. Check out my recipe and be the judge.

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Children’s Cookies

Posted on December 2, 2011 by andreamacleod

Not yet decorated but already good.

We call those cookies “Plätzchen” in Germany, which is basically cookie in English. If you hear “Plätzchen” then you immediately know that it refers to white simple cookies, cut in various Christmas themed shapes and decorated with icing. It is a simple dough, easy to make and a lot of fun for the kids. So if you are looking for something to do with the kids, this is definitely one of the good choices.

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Hazelnut Sticks

Posted on December 1, 2011 by andreamacleod

A not so cute looking cookie, but good nevertheless.

I seriously had to check which cookies I haven’t out up yet. Yes, after a while I start loose track of the recipe list. But alas, I have a handwritten list. *go me* So this time I’ll present you with some hazelnut cookies. Another one of those “but your arm strength in it, baby” recipes. Some kneading will be required of you.

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Spitzbuben

Posted on November 30, 2011 by andreamacleod

The best way I can translate them is “Little Rascals”. I just had to read up on the history of this Christmas cookies. It is from Switzerland but also know to Austria (under a different name) and obviously Germany. That’s the lovely thing about Europe, you travel and see something so you recreate it at home. Or you are a baker/confectioner and you travel to get some experience under you belt and learn different cultural baked goods. (Of course you also have local differences in North American but in Europa it’s amplified.)

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Raisin Cookies

Posted on November 28, 2011 by andreamacleod

Cranberry cookies, a twist on the raisin cookies.

This is yet another classic cookie from my mom’s Christmas baking. It seems all are, well, maybe not. This one I had to tweak a bit because…drum roll…I don’t like raisins. *gasp* There! I said it! A lot of people don’t understand that but I can’t help it. I like grapes, I do. But dry them and I run away, screaming. So what does a girl do? She substitutes, which is fairly easy in North America because you have dried cranberries. So, instead of raisin cookies you actually see cranberry cookies. The basic recipe though is with raisin.

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Cinnamon Stars

Posted on November 25, 2011 by andreamacleod

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.

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Thank you

Posted on November 24, 2011 by andreamacleod

Here comes a short intermission into the Christmas Cookie bake off, which has been going on since last Saturday and is quite a success I would say.

I started this blog in May of this year and I already got over 1000 views, which means not just my friends check this page but also their friends and complete strangers. But of course mainly friends and family looked at my recipes in the beginning. My sister-in-law Jennifer was also the first one to leave a comment. Thank you Jenn, that was thoughtful of you.

The first comment from someone I didn’t know was by A Hint of Garlic, who are a couple from the UK. I don’t really follow their blog which has something to do with the way the Follow Blog thing is set up here at WordPress. I should try to do that though. So thank you to A hint of garlic to leave a comment, maybe they tried to make the Hazelnut Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing.

Next I would like to thank Jennifer from Jennifer Screams and the girl from Savory Simple. Both liked my post about the Cinnamon Buns and where the first ones to like a post.

The last thank you goes to Indya from Indyasquarepants, who was the first to re-blog on of my posts. Thank you Indya, I feel very honoured that you re-blogged me.

Of course a big thanks to the family and friends who read this too. Please recommend the blog to others, I might have the recipe they are looking for. Also a big thanks to those random people who step by: analogeejumi, Lesley Carter, and Happiness Stan who liked the post about Photography – Light; and A Cornishman Cooks, as well as Nissi, who both liked the Coconut Cookies.

I wish everyone a good day. Happy Thanksgiving to those in the States. Happy Thursday to everyone else.

Love, Andrea

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