Monday, November 26, 2012

Traditional Christmas Cookies "Welser Blumen"


There is no such thing as celebrating the Holiday Season in Germany without a visit or two or even more to a traditional German Christmas market. Strolling through festively decorated and illuminated streets, taking rides on old-fashioned carousels, buying handmade Christmas decoration, listening to German Christmas carols, and drinking hot spiced wine; Christmas markets are a traditional and fun part of every Christmas season in Germany.




German Christmas markets date back to the 14th century. Originally, the fairs provided only food and practical supplies for the cold winter season, but soon the markets became a beloved holiday tradition and a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.




Christmas markets are the perfect place to find a unique Christmas gift, such as handmade wooden or tin toys, Christmas glass or wooden ornaments and decorations, whimsical pottery, woolen gloves, interesting jewelry, handmade soaps, beeswax candles, cookie cutters, spices, honey, handmade brooms,  and lots more.

 And no visit to a German Christmas market is complete without sampling some Christmas treats, such as “Stollen” (a traditional German Christmas bread with dried fruits, nuts, spices, and lots of powdered sugar icing), “Glühwein” (mulled wine), traditional “Bratwurst” (various charcoal-grilled sausages), “Lebkuchen” (gingerbread cookies), “Gebrannte Mandeln” (roasted sugar-coated almonds) and “Maronen” (roasted chestnusts).




Almost every city celebrates with at least one Christmas market and we will be attending a few different ones in the next couple of weeks. Most Christmas Markets start in the last week of November and run through to Christmas Eve or a day or two before.




In order to celebrate the official start of the festive season, I am posting my first recipe for Christmas cookies. These cookies are called “Welser Blumen”, an old-fashioned buttery Christmas cookie filled with some wonderful (maybe homemade) jelly or jam and with the traditional “Linzer Cookie cut-out look”.




Recipe for the “Welser Blumen”

Ingredients

125 grams unsalted butter,
70 grams powdered sugar
1 egg yolk, (M)
2 tbsp cold milk
the zest of an organic lemon
150 grams AP/plain flour
100 grams potato starch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg white (M)
20 grams homemade jam  or jelly (I used sour cherry jelly)




Preparation of the Cookies

1. In a medium skillet, melt the butter. Once melted, add the powdered sugar, egg yolk, milk and lemon zest.
2. Transfer to a large bowl of your mixer.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, potato starch and baking powder.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until you have a smooth, homogenous dough.
5. Divide the dough into two parts and flatten each part into a round. Wrap each with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour or overnight.
6. The next day, preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius and cover two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
7. Taking one dough disk at a time, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut out cookies and transfer to the baking sheets. Using a smaller cutter, cut the centers out of half of the cookies. Repeat rolling and cutting with the other half of the dough. Combine the scraps from both batches, reroll and cut.
NOTE: For each cookie, you will need one with and another one without the cutout in the center of the cookie – if you have a Linzer Cookie Cutter, this is a good time to use it!
8. To give the baked cookies a glossy look, brush the unbaked cookies with a lightly beaten egg white
9. Bake until the edges are golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
10.  Remove from the oven and place on wire racks until completely cool.
11. Spread a scant tablespoon of jam on the bottoms of each cookie, and sandwich with the cut-out tops!




This is the first one of my festive recipes and there will be lots more such as a recipes for traditional “Lebkuchen”, “Stollen” and “Glühwein” and lots of pictures from our visits to our favorite Christmas Markets – I hope you will enjoy my seasonal posts in the next few weeks!









27 comments:

  1. Mmmmm...wonderful cookies! Perfect for the holidays, but we'd be happy to eat them all year round!

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    1. Liz, thank you so much - my family considers most of my cookie recipes to be "year-round recipes" too and most of them can actually be enjoyed whenever you feel like baking some. Cookies, as you know so well, are indeed always fun to make and to eat!

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  2. I just love holiday markets. They really do put you in the holiday spirit! These cookies look absolutely wonderful. I agree with Lizzy, I would for sure be happy to eat them all year!

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    1. Beth, thanks for the comment - I took the kids to the Christmas Market on Friday and they had a terrific time - I think we sampled way to much good stuff though!

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  3. Those are some beautiful cookies - I am always impressed when people can make such beautiful little works of art.

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    1. Cher, thanks for the nice compliment - I always believe that cutting out cookies has great meditative qualities!

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  4. Andrea, your photos are just gorgeous! I'm seeing Christmas decorations everywhere but this evening looking at these cookies is the first time I've felt remotely Christmassy!

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    1. Thanks so much, Hester! It s wonderful to read that you like my photos and that they actually convey a bit of a Christmas feeling!

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  5. Visiting Germany in this season must be beautiful and fun. I didn't know about the kinds of cookies you eat during this time and it was nice to know. These cookies look delicious, and sour cherry jam makes it even more addicting! Sounds like your kitchen is filled with holiday spirits! :)

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    1. Nami, thanks for the lovely comment - Germans take their Christmas celebrations rather seriously, so there is so much to do, see, visit and buy around here, we certainly will be rather busy for the next little while!

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  6. Such beautiful flower cookies! And I like the color of your jelly. I love german holiday baked goodies, especially stollen and lebkucken. Maybe it´s time to make them. Have a great week Andrea!

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    1. Thanks, Paula, I love to use these kinds of Linzer cookies cutters and the jelly is not too sweet, so it is nice as a filling for these little flower-shaped cookies.

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  7. Replies
    1. Thanks so much for the comment! Christmas cookies are fun to bake and well-received, especially if they look nice.

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  8. These cookies look wonderful. Perfect for the Holiday season. Germany has a wonderful tradion - the Chriatmas markets. Someday I would like to go and visit the Christmas markets. Great pictures.

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    1. Thanks, Geraldine, and you are right, those Christmas markets are certainly worth a visit, that´s for sure! Maybe one day you will travel to Germany and visit a few!

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  9. Beautiful pictures, love the weinachts-markt. I also like the idea behind the cookies, they look delicious.

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    1. Nicolas, merci beaucoup pour ton gentil commentaire! J´aime bien recevoir des messages de toi!

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  10. I have a very lovely friend who is German. I can't wait to make these as a gift for her for Christmas. Thank you!

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    1. Kristin, I hope that the cookies will turn out delicious for you and your friend - let me know if you have any question as far as the recipe is concerned.

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  11. Oh Andrea, I want to go to a Christmas market….sounds like so much fun!! I love your cookies…they look so perfect!

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  12. Oh, I love the holiday season in Germany, and the wonderful Weihnachtsmärkte are probably my favorite part. We live close enough to the one in Frankfurt that we can easily wander over for quick weekend visits. They really are magical.

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  13. Oh, these are adorable! Thanks for the recipe - will attempt these.

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  14. I would enjoy your Christmas markets so much. Your cookies are so pretty!

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  15. I'm excited to try this recipe! How many cookies does it yield?

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    1. Dear Maria - thank you for your interest - I believe the recipe will yield about 30 to 35 cookies.
      Happy baking,
      Andrea

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  16. I make your cookies! My cookies did not look as good as your, but taste delicious!!

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