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.
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.)
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.
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.
Coconut cookie that don’t look like the one Mama makes but still are yummy.
I will be frank with you – I don’t like coconut. It is a taste I just don’t like, no matter which form: milk, fresh, cookies, whatever is out there. But coconut cookies are another staple for Christmas in out house. It is not one of the very old recipes because coconut is rather a recent thing. Recent? Yes, recent, because I am pretty sure they didn’t have coconut 100 years ago in regular house holds. There are some Christmas cookie recipes that are several hundred years old. For example, the Springerle are known since the Middle ages and where first used by churches. This recipe is certainly not as old but if you like coconut this one is for you.
Vanillekipferl, an Austrian Christmas cookie.
I just look up Vanillekipferl and if there is an English word. Apparently not, but the English Wikipedia knows what it is. Vanillekipferl are staples for Christmas, I don’t even think we have it any other time (most of our Christmas cookies are really just for Advent time and Christmas). Those little fellas were usually made by my grandmother on my father’s side because she comes from Austria and this is essentially an Austrian delicacy. They are simply to make, but somewhat time consuming.
Must have for Christmas.
These cookies are my absolute favourite Christmas cookie, ever. I am not so sure where the recipe comes from, however, I know mom made these for Christmas since I can remember. It is a really simple recipe, the issue is: do you have the means to make the shape?
Again, yummy food.
When it comes to meat, Germans are quite versatile, at least that what’s I like to believe. One of the finest ways is to make Schnitzel. It is basically to fry the meat. The original Wiener Schnitzel, Vienna Schnitzel, uses veal. I am not too big a fan of it, I rather prefer the pork version. I believe that you can also make chicken Schnitzel. How to make such a delicious food? Click “Read the Rest”.
Cheesy fishies
I wish I would be the genius behind this, unfortunately I am not. *boohoo* I am not even sure how I came about this but I think it was featured on Freshly Pressed here at WordPress. Or I stumbled upon it like I tend to: I click a link which leads me to another and another and another. You get the idea, eh? So when I saw it at Miss Anthropist’s Kitchen (click here) and Smitten Kitchen (click here) I was blown away. You can make your own crackers? Heck ya! Especially when you look for a little snack for 2-3 year olds at Sunday school which is not Tim Hortons or muffins (cause they had those last time). Plus, it totally fit with the theme we discussed.
Mini but big and fluffy.
I guess this is a belated fall post, at least for the Canada region. Snow has hit us here already, so we are in Winter mode. While we had our short autumn though I browsed the web for pumpkin recipes, or rather, there were everywhere. Being from Germany, pumpkin is not at all a staple in my autumn baking. My family once in a while would have pumpkin sweet sour as a dessert but it never suited me much. Here, pumpkin comes in many forms, mainly as pumpkin pie but also as loaf, muffin, bread, cupcake and anything else you might imagine. I accumulated a good list of recipes, about 10 pages long. I am not sure if I will be able to make them all, but it is good to know you might have the right recipe at hand.
Baking in Saskatoon 