It's been an unsual 2020, to say at least. For me personally, it gave me the opportunity to make a lot of different Christmas cookies this holiday season which I haven't had the time in the last four years (I shared my last "Christmas Cookie Baking" here). It's been such a joy baking in my very own kitchen instead of a professional restaurant kitchen. 
I made 28 different kinds of cookies and in total I made 1346 cookies, besides of countless of delicious lussekatter (Swedish sweet Christmas brioche with saffron) which are on of my favorite brioche of all time.  I still have to share my lussekatter recipe with you. But there is hope: there is always a next year and a next Christmas. 

1  Grenobler Nusskekse (Grenoble Nut Cookies)
2  Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingerbread Cookies, my recipe is here)
3  Syltkakor I (Swedish Jam Cookies)
4  Spekulatius (German Speculoos Cookies, my recipe is here)
5  Gewürzkugeln (Chocolate Spice Balls)
6   Schokoladenstäbchen (Chocolate Sticks)
7   Tuiles aux Amandes
8   Sirapskakor (Sliced Sirup Cookies)
9   Orangenmonde (Orange Cookies with Orange Jam)
10 Müsliflorentiner (Granola Florentine Cookies)
11 Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)
12 Glühweinschnitten (Mulled Wine Squares)
13 Minzecken (Mint Chocolate Corners)
14 Cardamom chocolate cookies
15 Dunkle Wölkchen (Dark Chocolate Clouds)
16 Skurnar Chokladkakor (Swedish Sliced Chocolate Cookies With Pearl Sugar, my recipe is here)
17 Bärentatzen (Chocolate Bear Paws)
18 Spanisches Brot (Cookies with Almonds and Meringue)
19 Elisenlenkuchen (my recipe is here)
20 Pfauenauge (Peacock Eyes Cookies, my recipe is here)
21 Spritskransar (Spritz Cookies)
22 Zitronen Terassen (Lemon Curd Terraces)
23 Russinkakor (Raisin Oatmeal Cookies, my recipe is here)
24 Haselnuss Nussknacker (Hazelnut Nut Crackers)
25 Havreflarn (Swedish Crispy Oat Cookies)
26 Überraschungsiglus (Surprise Balls Filled with Toffee)
27 Weiße Wölkchen (White Chocolate Clouds)
28 Schokoladensterne (Chocolate Stars)
8

I could write an entire essay about Elisenlebkuchen but instead I want to keep it short and sweet today - just as these cookies are. I do hope you find the time to make these delicate traditional German Christmas Elisenlebkuchen cookies before this holiday season ends. 
It took me a while to perfect my recipe but now I am more than pleased with the result (and i am a perfectionist!). In fact I started to work on a blog post on my Lebkuchen spice mix on December  13 in 2015 but I never ended up publishing this post until now. These cookies are so dear to my heart and it fills me with joy finally sharing this recipe my you. 

The cookies are quite easy to make and it does not require a lot of baking equipments. This is really the beauty of these cookies. And at the same time these Christmas cookies feel so luxurious and festive with typical winter spices. Most of the time Elisenlebkuchen are very big in size but I prefer making small cookies because they are quite rich due to the high content of almond and hazelnut flour and the lack of flour. 
I hope you enjoy these delicious chewy and moist cookies as much I do.
Stay safe wherever you are. Happy Holidays!

Makes 20 cookies

INGREDIENTS
  • 75 g candied orange peel, finley chopped
  • 150 g / 1 1/3 cups hazelnut flour
  • 150 g / 1 1/3 cups almond flour
  • 3 teaspoons Lebkuchen spice mix (you find my spice mix here) 
  • 2 teaspoons cacao powder, unsweetend
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 eggs, medium size
  • 125 g / 2/3 muscovado sugar
  • 150 g / 6 ounces dark chocolate, 70%, chopped / I use Valrhona Guanaja
  • 50 g / 1/3 cup almonds, skinned
DIRECTIONS
  • Preheat the oven to 150 °C / 300 °F.  
  • Line two baking sheets with baking paper. 
  • Add finely chopped orange peel, hazelnut and almond flour, Lebkuchen spice mix, cacao powder, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix well. 
  • Add eggs and sugar into a big bowl and whisk until fluffy (it should be doubled in size). Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and gently mix until well combined. 
  • Form balls out of the mixture - about a tablespoon for each cookie - and flatten the balls until they are 6 cm / 2,5 inches size in diamater. 
  • Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes. The outside of he cookies should be firm but when you touch the cookies they should still be soft.
  • Gently transfer the cookies on a wire rack and let them cool down. 
  • While the cookies are cooling, prepare the glazing. 
  • In order to temper the chocolate, melt 2/3 of the chocolate over a double boiler or in a microvawe (when using a microwave, stir the chocolate every few seconds, in order to make sure not burning the chocolate). The chocolate should have the temperature between 45 °C / 113 °F and 50 °C / 122 °F. Then add the remaining 1/3 chocolate and stir occassionally until the chocolate is melted and cooled down between 30 °C / 86 °F and 32 °C / 89 °F. The temperture is very important for tempering the chocolate.
  • Coat the Elisenlebkuchen with the tempered chocolate and decorate with almonds. 
  • Keep the Elisenlebkuchen in an airtight tin. You can keep the cookies up to a month. 
3
Happy New Year, my dearest readers! I hope you had a great start into 2017.
In today's blog post, I want to share the Christmas cookies that I made for the holiday season. I think I never ever made so many different kinds of cookies than for the 2016 Christmas season. I made 44 different cookies and in total, I made 1790 cookies (yes, I counted every single cookie that I made). It is my personal record of Christmas cookie baking and I loved every single minute of making the cookies. There are Christmas cookies that I make every single year but every year I also try new cookie recipes. My favorite new cookies that I made this year , no last year, were Soft Walnut Gingerbread Squares and Springerle.
I also made two Swedish soft gingerbread cakes (my recipe is here), a Christmas Fruit Cake and countless of lussekatter (Swedish sweet bread with saffron). Besides my Christmas baking I also made more than 30 caramell apple mousse cakes, more than 15 snowball mousse cakes and I also made a batch of my chocolate brioches.
December has been a wonderful baking month and I am already looking forward to next December.


1 Formar (Little Tart Shells that are served with whipped cream and jam or cherries, These little cakes are eaten during Christmas time in Sweden)
2 Dunkle Wölkchen (Dark Chocolate Clouds)
3 Haselnuss Nussknacker (Hazelnut Nut Crackers)
4 Glühweinschnitten (Mulled Wine Squares)
5 Elisenlebkuchen (German Soft Gingerbread Cookies)
6 Zitronen Terassen (Lemon Curd Terraces)
7 Havreflarn (Swedish Crispy Oat Cookies)
8 Spekulatius I (German Speculoos Cookies, my recipe is here)
9 Spekulatius II (German Speculoos / I dropped the cookie tin and my Speculoos cookies broke)
10 Springerle (Traditional German Christmas Cookies)
11 Basler Leckerli (Swiss Cookies from Basel)
12 Weiße Wölkchen (White Chocolate Clouds)
13 Schokoladenstäbchen (Chocolate Sticks)
14 Wespenenster (Wasps' Nests, Cookies with Almonds and Chocolate)
15 Müsliflorentiner (Granola Florentine Cookies)
16 Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)
17 Walnusslebkuchen (Soft Walnut Gingerbread Squares)
18 Schokoladensterne mit Rosa Pfeffer (Chocolate Stars with Pink Pepparcorns)
19 Kokosmakronen (Coconut Macaroons)
20 Russinkakor (Raisin Oatmeal Cookies, my recipe is here)
21 Syltkakor I (Swedish Jam Cookies)
22 Syltkakor II (Swedish Jam Cookies)
23 Basler Brunsli (Swiss Cookies)
24 Zimtsterne (German Cinnamon Stars)
25 Sirapskakor (Sliced Sirup Cookies)
26 Schokoladensterne (Chocolate Stars)
27 Minzecken (Mint Corners)
28 Spanisches Brot (Cookies with Almonds and Meringue)
29 Linzer Auge (Cookies Sandwiched with Jam)
30 Walnussschokoladenkekse (Walnut Cookies Sandwiched with Praline Chocolate)
31 Gewürzkugeln (Chocolate Spice Balls)
32 Orangenmonde (Orange Cookies with Orange Jam)
33 Überraschungsiglus (Surprise Balls Filled with Toffee)
34 Pfauenauge (Peacock Eyes Cookies, my recipe is here)
35 Schokoladenmakronen (Chocolate Macaroons)
36 Spritskransar (Spritz Cookies)
37 Grenobler Nusskekse (Grenoble Nut Cookies)
38 Skurnar Chokladkakor (Swedish Sliced Chocolate Cookies With Pearl Sugar, my recipe is here)
39 Skurnar Chokladkakor (Swedish Sliced CHocolate Cookies With Almonds, my recipe is here)
40 Schokoladentaler mit Orangen (Chocolate Rounds with Orange)
41 Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingerbread Cookies, my recipe is here)
42 Zitronenecken (Lemon Corners Filled With Red Currant Jam)
43 Bärentatzen (Chocolate Bear Paws)
44 Snowcap Cookies
1
I do not know how many times I declared my love for making mousse cakes. It is my favorite and I never ever get tired of it and it is such a joy sharing my cake creations with you. However, I also want to share a variety of recipes with you and this is why I am sharing a delicious cookie recipe with you today.
I am not a big breakfast person but I am an early morning person. I love getting up early and as soon as I got up I am full of energy but most of the time I am not hungry. Often my breakfast consists of a big cup of green tea. However, these days I enjoy a little bowl of porridge with pears, walnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup which keeps me warm during these cold winter days. But on those days that I am not hungry at all I enjoy one or two oatmeal cookies which consist of a thin layer of semisweet chocolate sandwiched between two cookies. The oats gives the cookie dough a distinctive flavor and the chocolate gives the hearty cookies a little more sweetness. These delicious cookies are full of delightfulness, very addicting and I also enjoy the cookies as an afternoon tea snack. The more I eat these cookies I have a feeling they might become to one of my favorite cookies of this year. 
Makes about 25 cookies ( 5 cm / 2 inches in diameter)

INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
  • 75 g / 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg (medium size)
  • 50 g / 1/2 cup instant oats (quick cooking oats)
  • 200 g / 2 cups pastry flour
  • 125 g / 4 1/2 ounces chocolate (50 - 60 %), roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS

  • Whisk butter and sugar until creamy; add salt and egg. Add rolled oats and flour and mix until the dough comes together. 
  • On a lightly floured surface knead the dough until it is smooth. Form the dough to a disc, wrap it into cling wrap and let the dough chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
  • Preheat the oven to 200 °C / 390 °F. 
  • Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface (do not roll out entire dough at once, roll out half of the dough). While rolling out the dough lift it regularly, so the dough does not stick to your work surface. Roll the dough until it is 2 mm / 0.08 inch thick. The cookies taste the best on the thin side, so I do not recommend rolling the dough thicker than 2 mm. 
  • Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter; I used a 5 cm / 2 inches round cookie cutter but you can use any shape you like. Reroll the remaining dough, cut out cookies again, continue the procedure until the entire dough is used up. 
  • Place the cookies onto the baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake the cookies 7 to 9 minutes or until the cookies have a slightly golden color. 
  • Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack. 
  • Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. 
  • Spread the melted chocolate onto half of the cookies. Gently place the rest of the cookies on top. Let the cookies firm up. 
  • Keep the cookies in an air-tight container or in a cookie tin. 
There is an organic bakery chain, Pfister, in Munich which is known for its crunchy bread crust and for its vast selection of breads. The bakery also offers a small selection of pastries and cookies. When I was a child my favorite cookies from this bakery was "Pfauenauge" (peacock eyes) which resembles Linzer cookies and they are also jam sandwiched cookies. 
A few weeks ago, while picking up a loaf of bread at the Pfister bakery, I also bought a Pfauenauge cookie because I was curious if I still liked the cookie; the last time I tried this cookie was probably 20 years ago. The cookie was good but I thought to myself that I would add more spices to the dough. Inspired by the Pfister cookie I made my own version of Pfauenauge cookies and I added cacao powder, cinnamon and cloves to the dough. I could not be happier with the cake result and these cookies might be my favorite cookie of this Christmas season (last year Spekulatius were my favorite Christmas cookies). 

NOTES:

Hazelnuts

If you have extra time on your hands roast the hazelnuts. 
Roast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan (do not add oil), over medium heat and stir constantly (so the hazelnuts do not burn), until the nuts are lightly golden in color and the skin of the nuts are blistered. Place the nuts in a kitchen towel and remove loose skins by rubbing against the towel. Do not worry if the skin remain on some nuts, It does not have to be perfect. 
Let the hazelnuts cool completely before grinding them. 

Storage

On the day you make the cookies they are crunchy which I like. The next day the Pfauenauge cookies get softer which some people prefer. Because of the jam filling it is inevitable that the cookies softens over time. However, I think - in my experience - the cookies get softer in a cookie tin than storing them on a plate at a room temperature. 
If you prefer the cookies crispy store the cookies (without jam filling) in a tin and fill the cookies on the day you want to eat or serve them.

Makes 10 cookies (7.5 cm / 3 inches in diameter)

INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
  • 100 g / 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 25 g / 3 tablespoons whole-wheat flour (you can also replace it with pastry flour)
  • 90 g / 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons pastry flour, plus extra for kneading
  • 100 g / 2/3 cup hazelnuts, finely grated *see my notes above
  • 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar
  • 100 g / 5 tablespoons raspberry jam

DIRECTIONS

  • Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg yolk and salt and beat until well incooperated. 
  • Mix whole-wheat flour, pastry flour, finely grated hazelnuts, cacao powder, cinnamon and cloves in a separate bowl. 
  • Add the flour spice mixture to the butter mixture and stir with a (wooden) spoon. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead the dough until smooth. Try to work as quickly as possible. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour. Form the dough to flat disc and wrap the dough into cling wrap. Let the dough chill for at least two hours or overnight in the fridge.
  • When you take the dough out of the fridge you will notice that the dough is very hard. Let the dough rest for 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature, then roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface or roll the dough out on parchment paper. Try to use as little flour as possible. While rolling out the dough lift the dough regularly, so the dough does not stick to your work surface.
  • Roll out the dough until it is about 5 mm / 0.2 inch thick. Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter  ( I like using a wavy cookie cutter which is 7.5 cm / 3 inches in diameter, use any shape you like best such as a heart, or square cookie cutter). 
  • Place the cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment paper ( I use two baking sheets). Cut out the centers of half of the cookies. It is easier if you cut out the centers on the baking sheet than on a surface. I use a small ( 1.5 cm / 1/2 inch in diameter) round cookie cutter and I make three little holes but you also make only one hole. 
  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C / 350 °F.
  • Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. If your cookies are thicker it may take a minute or two longer and if your cookies are thinner the baking time is a minute or two shorter.  
  • Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack. 
  • Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with powdered sugar. I use a little sieve. 
  • Spread raspberry jam on each "bottom" cookie, Use about 1/2 tablespoon for each cookie bottom, spread more jam in the middle of each cake. Place the top cookies (dusted with powdered sugar) onto the the cookies with jam and very gently sandwich the cookies. Be careful that you do not break the cookies. 
4
You might have noticed that there are many recipes on the blog that involve almonds because I am fond of almonds and everything that is flavored with almonds. You won't be surprised that I like marzipan which is made out of almonds (and sugar and water) a lot. In Swedish (baking) cuisine marzipan is used quite a lot, too. However, today I am not sharing a Swedish recipe but a German recipe. 
Marzipanhörnchen - marzipan crescents - are a German classic which one can very often find at bakeries in Germany. These crescents consist of a large portion of marzipan so if you do not like marzipan I am afraid that this recipe might not be for you. But if you like marzipan I am convinced that these soft and chewy marzipan crescents - which are also very easy to make - will become a favorite of yours.

Makes 8 Marzipanhörnchen

INGREDIENTS

  • 125 g / 4.5 ounces marzipan
  • 65 g / 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 15 g / 1/2 egg white (size M)
  • 25 g / 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 50 g / 1/2 cup flaked almonds
  • 75 g /  2.5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (50%), roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 165 °C / 330 °F.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Grate or cut the marzipan into small pieces.
  • Place marzipan, powdered sugar, egg white and all-purpose flour in a bowl and mix until all ingredients are well combined, preferable in a standing mixer or with an electric mixer. The dough should have a sticky consistency.
  • Divide the dough into 8 pieces.
  • Sprinkle your work surface with flaked almonds. Roll each piece of dough into a 15 cm / 6 inches rope on the surface that you sprinkled with the almonds. The flaked almonds will stick to the marzipan dough.
  • Place the ropes onto the baking sheet; make sure that there is enough space between each rope. Curve each rope into a crescent shape. If you have any flaked almonds leftover sprinkle them over the crescents.
  • Bake marzipan crescents for 13 to 15 minutes or until they have a hint of golden color.
  • Let the marzipan crescents cool completely on the baking sheet.
  • Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
  • Dip both ends of each crescent into the melted chocolate or use a spoon and cover the ends with chocolate. I prefer and I use the latter method.
  • Place the crescents on a parchment lined board or plate and let dry.
  • Store the crescents in an air-tight container or cookie tin up two weeks.
2

Whenever I stayed at my uncle's house as a child my brothers and I ate cookies before breakfast. We did this every single morning. It was part of our morning routine. We sneaked into the kitchen, opened the drawer that was on the very right corner of the kitchen where my uncle stores his pots and pans and we took cookies from a large square shaped cookie tin that was black and decorated with beautiful flowers on the lid. My uncle always stored Bondkakor in this particular black cookie tin. No other kinds of cookies. Other types of cookies were stored in a different drawer but we always chose Bondkakor. I cannot tell you why we never switched up our "before breakfast cookies"; perhaps we loved these cookies so much. While munching on Bondkakor my brothers and I (most of the time I was only allowed to watch because you know I was a girl) made little wood sailboats which they let sail on a lake in the afternoons; of course I was, again, only allowed to watch. 
Whenever I eat Bondkakor which are still one of my very favorite Swedish cookies I have to think about the fun mornings that I spent with my brothers at my uncle's house. 
Like many Swedish cookies Bondkakor are crunchy cookies - neither soft nor chewy - with a hint of caramel that pairs so well with the roasted almonds. Bondkakor are a classic and a favorite among many Swedes. The name Bondkakor derives from the word bonde which means farmer, kakor is the plural for cookies (kaka is singular in case you are wondering). So Bondkakor can be translated as farmer cookies in English.


NOTES: I tried different ways to make these cookies. I rolled out the dough and cut out cookies in order to get a perfect round shape. I rolled out the dough in different thicknesses. I was experimenting with the baking time of the cookies. I was also experimenting with the amount of water that I added to the cookie dough. I came to the conclusion that the cookies taste the very best when not rolled out but made into a log and slice the cookies. The amount of water that is used in the dough makes a difference as well. If the dough is a tiny bit crumbly the dough is " perfect" in my opinion.
In Swedish baking syrup is a very common ingredients. The syrup is made of 100 % cane sugar (no additives). There is dark syrup which is often added to bread and there is light syrup which is used for baking. I use this brand, but organic, which is the most common one in Sweden. You can substitute Swedish syrup with golden syrup or light corn syrup. You might even replace it with maple syrup which I have not tried out yet. If you live in Germany you can replace syrup with Zuckerrübensirup.
Please do not omit the syrup or replacement because this gives the cookies the hint of caramel that makes the cookies so delicious.
Makes about 35 cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 50 g / 1/3 cup almonds
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon lukewarm water
  • 100 g  / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
  • 75 g / 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 25 g / 1 heaped tablespoon light syrup
  • 200 g  / 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 200 °C / 390 °F.
  • Place almonds on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast almonds for 5 to 7 minutes until the almonds have a golden brown color. Let the almonds cool, then chop the roasted almonds.
  • Dissolve baking soda in one teaspoon lukewarm water.
  • Whisk butter and sugar until creamy, Add syrup and whisk until well combined.
  • Add flour, chopped almonds and baking soda water and stir until the dough comes together.
  • Place the dough onto a floured surface and form dough into a log, 4-5 cm / 1.5 -2 inches in diameter. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap. The dough is a little bit crumbly but do not worry.
  • Refrigerate dough for at least one hour or overnight.
  • Preheat the oven to 200 °C / 390 °F.
  • Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Slice cookie log into 3 mm / 0.1 inch thin slices with a sharp knife. Place cookies onto baking sheets.
  • Bake the cookies for 7 to 9 minutes until the cookies have a tan or light brown color.
  • Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.
  • Store the cookies in a cookie tin or in an air-tight container up to one month.
One day I want to have a selection of recipes that includes all my favorite and traditional Swedish baked goods. Whenever I am in Sweden and step a foot into a bakery - in particular in my mom's hometown which has many beautiful bakeries and cafés - I feel I am at home. It is such a cozy and wonderful feeling. The shelves of the bakeries are filled with kanelbullar, prinsessbakelse, budpestbakelse, wienerbröd, mazariner and other delicious treats which I grow up with and I truly love. I love visiting bakeries and pâtisseries around the world - Paris is probably the greatest place and you know how much I admire French pâtisserie - in order to get inspired but I do not have this feeling of home. I only have this feeling in Swedish bakeries which is wonderful and maybe it is the place where I belong. I always find it uncomfortable when people asking me where I am from because I do not feel that I belong to one place.

Skurna chokladkakor which simply means sliced chocolate cookies are one those baked goods that you will always find in a Swedish bakery and it is a classic Swedish cookie that my grandmother enjoyed, my mom likes and I am very fond of this sligthly crispy chocolate cookie, too. 
Traditionally, these chocolate cookies are topped with pearl sugar. The other day I was retesting my cookie recipe and topped half of the cookies with chopped almonds and it was such a brilliant idea. It never crossed my mind using anything else than pearl sugar; I got probably caught up in tradition! 
If you cannot find pearl sugar - an ingredient that is often used in Swedish baking, for instance Swedish cinnamon rolls are always topped with pearl sugar - or if you don't like pearl sugar use roughly chopped almonds or nuts. It is such a great alternative and I think it taste even better with almonds and nuts but shhh, don't tell anyone.
Makes about 50 cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 200 g  / 7/8 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 200 g  / 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg (large)
  • 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar *
  • 300 g / 3 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 35 g / 1/4 cup of unsweetened raw cacao powder
  • Pearl sugar, roughly chopped almonds or chopped hazelnuts
  • 1 egg (small), beaten
* You can make your own vanilla sugar (it is very common in Europe) which is very simple: Splitt one vanilla been into two halves and remove the seeds with the help of a knife.  Fill a jar with granulated sugar, add the vanilla seeds and the used vanilla bean. Let the mixture age for two weeks. Voilà, you have your own homemade vanilla sugar.

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 200 °C / 400 °F.
  • Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla sugar.
  • Sift flour, cacao and baking powder in a separate bowl and mix well.
  • Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.
  • As soon as the dough comes together, transfer the dough to a floured surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth (it gets a little bit messy). If the dough is too sticky, add a little bit more flour.
  • Divide the dough into four parts. Roll each dough into a log (2 cm / 0.8 inch Ø ). 
  • Place two logs on each baking sheet. Make sure that there is enough space between each log. Flatten each log slighty until it is about 4 cm / 1.5 inches. 
  • Brush the logs with a beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar, chopped almonds or hazelnuts. 
  • Bake the logs for 12 to 15 minutes.
  • Let the cookies cool for one minute. Take a sharp knife and cut diagonally into 2 cm / 0,8 inches slices. The cookies will be soft but will harden when cooled. Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack. 
  • Store the cookies in an air-tight container up to two weeks. 

Before 2014 comes to an end - at least in my part of the world it is still 2014 - I want to share the different kinds of cookies that I made this Christmas season. I wrote a post about my Christmas baking last year and it is fun to look back at it.  As much as I like sharing recipes with you my dear readers, this blog is also my baking diary. Maybe one day I lose interest in baking which I cannot imagine at the moment and then I can look back at the recipes that I made over the years and I might be astonished what a strange baking  passion I once had.
This year I made 27 different kind of Christmas cookies. Besides Christmas cookies I also made a lot of Lussekatter which are sweet saffron buns which are traditionally eaten on December 13th in Sweden and these buns are one of my all time favorite Christmas food. I also made a few Swedish Christmas Spice Cakes.
I wish I could tell you the exact number of cookies I made this year but I am afraid that you have to be patient. I counted every single cookie that I made but as I write this post I cannot find my cookie statistic notes which makes me a little bit mad. I know that I kept my notes on my desk but somehow my notes disappeared or are hiding in a cookbook. As soon as I find my cookie notes I will update this post. But I can tell you one thing: I made more than 2000 Christmas cookies (last year I made 1298 cookies) this year. I do not know if I am proud of it or if I am embarrassed about it. I tend to the latter one because I think people must think I am meshuge. Maybe I am.
My dear readers, I wish you all a very Happy New Year! May 2015 be filled with lots of delicious cakes and cookies, wonderful moments, love and health!
Thank you for reading my blog.
Marianne
xxx



1 Elisenlebkuchen (German Soft Gingerbread Cookies)
2 Linzer Auge (Cookies sandwiched with jam)
3 Bärentatzen (Bear Paws)
4 Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingerbread Cookies, my recipe is here)
5 Wölkchen (Dark Chocolate Clouds)
6 Havreflarn (Swedish Crispy Oat Cookies)
7 Zitronen Terrassen (Lemon Curds Terraces)
8 Russinkakor ( Swedish Raisin Oat Cookies)
9 Weihnachtssterne (Christmas Stars filled with jam and covered with dark chocolate and chopped         pistachios)
10 Zimtsterne (German Cinnamon Stars)
11 Formar (Swedish Shell Cookies, served with whipped cream and jam or cherries)
12 Haselnuss Nussknacker (Hazelnut Nut Crackers)
13 Spekulatius (German Speculoos/ Almond Spice Cookies, my recipe is here)
14 Grenobler Nussplätzchen (Grenoble Nut Cookies)
15 Geminzte Ecken (Mint Corners)
16 White Clouds (White Chocolate Clouds)
17 Havrekakor (Swedish Oat Cookies)
18 Vanillekipferl (Austrian, German Vanilla Crescent)
19 Kokoskakor (Coconut Macaroons)
20 Spritskransar/Spritzgebäck (Spritz Cookies)
21 Schokoladenstäbchen (Chocolate Sticks)
22 Überraschungsiglus (Surprise Igloos)
23 Gewürzkugeln (Chocolate Spice Balls)
24 Spanisches Brot (Spanish Bread Cookies)
25 Orangenmonde (Orange Moons, cookies filled with orange jam)
26 Glühweinschnitten (Mulled Wine Squares)
27 Kokoswürfel (Coconut Cubes), not pictured
6

Oh my dear readers, finally, oh finally, I am sharing my Spekulatius cookie recipe with you. It makes me very happy to write down this sentence. I meant to post this recipe last December but I never got around to it and I was very disappointed in myself. Now I am very happy and have a smile on my face.
Spekulatius are very traditional German Christmas cookies which are thin and crispy and contain spices such as cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and nutmeg. There are three different kinds of speculoos cookies: spiced cookies that contain a lot of spices; butter speculoos that have more butter than the spiced speculoos; almond speculoos which contain almond flour besides flour and the bottom of the cookies are coated with sliced almonds. Almond speculoos are my favorite. I love the combination of almonds and the subtle taste of cinnamon, clove and cardamon.

When making traditional German Spekulatius wooden handmade molds are used which I adore. Because of my love for speculoos molds  -  in German the mold is called Springerle - I bought one mold at the Christmas market the other day but not for me but for you. I would like to give away this wooden Spekulatius mold (this giveaway is open internationally). The first reader who leaves a comment under this post will receive the Spekulatius mold.
Spekulatius are one of my favorite German Christmas cookies and I love the tradition of using handmade wooden molds. Every time I make Spekulatius cookies it feels very special to me and while the cookies are baking in the oven my home smells delightful and Christmassy.
Makes about 30 cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g unsalted butter, soft
  • 125 g granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 225 g all-purpose flour
  • 75 almond flour/ ground almonds
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 teaspoons of speculoos spice mix
  • 100 g sliced almonds
  • 3 tablespoons of milk

DIRECTIONS

  • Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix until all ingredients are well combined.
  • Mix flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt and speculoos spices in a separate bowl.
  • Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Knead all ingredients to a dough.
  • Cover the dough into plastic wrap. Let the speculoos dough rest for at least one hour or overnight.
  • Line 2 to 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle baking sheets with sliced almonds.
  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C.
  • Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface until 2 mm thick, if the dough is too sticky add more flour .Use 1/3 of the dough at a time.
  • Press the speculoos mold into the dough, trim the excess dough with a knife. If you do not have a speculoos mold you can use a cookie cutter as well or you can also cut the dough into rectangles.
  • Carefully place the Spekulatius on the baking sheets. Brush the cookies lightly with milk.
  • Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes until they are golden in color.
  • Store the Spekulatius cookies in a store-tight container or tin.
2
I created these marzipan orange butter cookies in the beginning of this year. Before the year is over I have to share this recipe with you.
I love marzipan and I love combining orange flavor - if you have not already noticed from my recipes - in baking. The orange flavor in these cookies are not overpowering but very subtle. The hint of orange flavor is similar to the bergamot flavor of Early Grey tea - a tea which I like very much. 
These days I love spending rainy fall afternoons bundled up by the fireplace with a big cup of tea accompanied with a few of these marzipan orange butter cookies. I secretly call the cookies "cozy afternoon by the fireplace November fall tea cookies". It is my favorite fall activity besides taking my black Dutch bike on long bike rides. 
NOTES: Try to use the best marzipan that is available to you. The quality of marzipan makes a difference when making these cookies. I made these cookies once with marzipan which was not that great and I could taste the difference. My favorite marzipan for baking is the Danish brand Odense (named after the Danish city Odense, H.C Andersen - the Danish "Fairy-tale" author - was born there, too).
In baking I often use dried peels of organic oranges (just let the peels dry for a few days on your kitchen counter and then store the orange peels in a glass container). In this recipe I also prefer orange zest of dried orange peels. If you do not  have or do not want to use dried orange peels feel free using fresh orange zest  but I recommend using 2 instead of 3 teaspoons of orange zest.
Makes about 50 cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 200 g all-purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons of finely grated orange zest
  • 100 g granulated sugar
  • 125 g unsalted cold butter (cut into cubes)
  • 1 egg (medium)
  • 150 g marzipan

DIRECTIONS

  • Grate the marzipan coarsely or cut the marzipan into small pieces. 
  • Mix flour and orange zest in a small bowl. Put the flour orange mixture on a clean surface and add sugar, butter and grated marzipan to it. Form a well in the center and put the egg in the center of the well. 
  • Knead all ingredients quickly until the dough is smooth. If the dough is too dry add a little bit of cold water. Cover the dough into plastic wrap and let the dough rest in the fridge for at least one hour. 
  • Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface or between two pieces of parchment paper until 3 mm thick. 
  • Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter (I use a 6 cm round cookie cutter).
  • Place cookies on baking sheets and let the cookies rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. 
  • Preheat the oven to 180 °C. 
  • Bake the cookies for 5 to 7 minutes until the edges are slightly golden in color. 
  • Let the cookies cool on a wire rack. 
  • Store the cookies in an air-tight container. 
1
This summer I bought new book shelves and I took this opportunity to reorganize all my books. I got a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of books that I own and I asked myself more than once how many books a human being really needs. I tried to get rid of a few books but I  failed miserably and kept all my books which I am  happy about. While going through all my books I found a pile of old diaries which I wrote when I was between 8 and 10 years old. I know know that I got new ballet shoes on November 14th, my younger brother had a tick on November 18th, I had Swedish crisp bread knäckebröd with cheese for breakfast on May 10th, the neighbor's cat visited my house on May 25th and other important things that I would have forgotten.
Among my diaries I also found a peanut butter cookie recipe. I remember that I wrote down this recipe but somehow I never came around making these cookies. When I saw this recipe in my diary I was over the moon. Finally,  - years later - I was able to make this cookie recipe. It is a very simple cookie recipe and I love these peanut butter cookies. Ever since I discovered the recipe in my diary I made these cookies several times. So far it is my favorite cookie recipe of this year.
I keep a few cookies in a little tin on my desk which is a little bit dangerous because sometimes it is hard to resist not to eat the cookies at one sitting. The tin which you can see in the photos belonged once my grandparents (and my mom remember this tin as well) and it was filled with Swedish caramel candies. Now it is my "desk cookie tin" which used to be a candy tin more than half a century ago. I like this a lot. 



 Makes 32 cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 125 g unsalted softened butter
  • 175 g brown sugar
  • 175 g all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 125 g crunchy peanut butter
  • 1 egg (medium)

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Beat butter and sugar until creamy. 
  • In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture, peanut butter and egg to the butter-sugar mixture.
  • Form the dough into small balls; for each ball use one teaspoon of dough. 
  • Bake the cookies 12 to 14 minutes. 
  • Let the cookies cool on a wiring rack. 
  • Store cookies in an airtight container or tin. 
Running a marathon is still on my to-do list. While dreaming to achieve this goal in 2014 I run a cookie Christmas marathon last week. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I made 24 different kinds of Christmas cookies, three Christmas cakes, two baguette parisienne and two batches of sweet buns. Altogether I made 1298 cookies. I know, know I am crazy and I counted every single cookie that I made.
This blog is also a baking diary for me and maybe one day when I am an old grandma I can look back and ask myself “how many cookies did I made for Christmas in 2013 and what kind of Christmas cookies did I made in 2013”. You never know what kind of important questions you will ask as a grandma. So I am better be prepared for it.:-)
In the photos you can see the different kinds of Christmas cookies that I made. My favorite Christmas cookies are Vanillekipferl, Lebkuchen, Pepparkakor (my recipe is here) and Spekulatius. I hope I can find the time to post the recipes of my favorite cookies in the next few days. This year I tried out a new recipe of Vanillekipferl and it was the best recipe I ever tried out. 
This year I also bought a handmade Spekulatius mold at a Christmas market and I love the mold. Because I am so in love with the Spekulatius mold I bought a second mold and I will give it away to you, my dear readers, in the next few days. Stay tuned.

1 Havreflarn (Crispy Oat Cookies, Swedish)
2 Elisen Lebkuchen (Soft Gingerbread Cookies, German)
3 Spanisches Brot (Spanish Bread, German)
4 Kokoskakor (Coconut Macaroon, German/Swedish)
5 Linzer Auge (Cookies sandwiched with jam, Austrian/German)
6 Hästkor (Horse Shoe Cookies, Swedish)
7 Formkakor (Shell Cookies, served with freshly whipped cream and jam, Swedish)
8 Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars, German)
9 Bärentatzen (Bear Paw, German)
10 Schokoladenmakronen (Chocolate Macaroon, Austrian/German)
11 Geminzte Ecken (Mint Corners, German)
12 Gewürzkugel (Spice Ball, German)
13 Pepparkaka (Gingerbread Cookies, my recipe is here, Swedish)
14 Spekulatius (Almond Spice Cookies, German)
15 Weiße Wölkchen (White and Dark Chocolate Clouds, German)
16 Syltkaka (Jam Cookies, Swedish)
17 Überraschungsiglus (Surprise Igloo, German)
18 Spritskransar (Spritz Cookies, German/Swedish)
19 Florentiner (Florentine Cookies, Italian)
20 Weihnachtssterne (Christmas Stars filled with jam and covered with dark chocolate, German)
21 Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent, Austrian/German)
22 Russinkaka (Raisin Oat Cookies, Swedish)
23 Chokladsnittar (Chocolate Bites, Swedish)
24 Grenobler Nussplätzchen (Grenoble Nut Cookies, Swiss/German)
4

I grew up with Swedish Christmas traditions and I cannot remember that there was a Christmas (Jul in Swedish) without pepparkakor. Pepparkakor are eaten all year round in Sweden but you make pepparkakor only once a year and that is during Christmas time. When I was little my brothers and me used to help my mom to cut out the cookies and it was naturally that we made pepparkakor every single Christmas. Making pepparkakor was not my mom’s favorite activity because she always thought and still thinks that this is an endless affair because one rolls out the dough over and over again and cut out cookies over and over again. To my mom it is a never ending dough story.
This year I decided to make the entire process of making pepparkakor myself [in previous years my mom made the dough and I cut out hundreds of pepparkakor cookies]. When my mom gave me the recipe the other day she told me all about this particular pepparkakor recipe that she used every single Christmas.
My grandfather's handwritten recipe
It is a handwritten recipe by my grandfather Trygve and he had writen down this recipe (which you can see in the picture below) about 50 years ago. My grandfather died before I was born and for this reason it feels very special to have this handwritten recipe in my hands. I am also fascinated by his handwriting because it looks so much alike my mom’s handwriting [in fact I cannot see any differences. The pepparkaka recipe is from a friend of my grandparents. Her name was Gunhild and this is why I also call these cookies Gunhild’s pepparkakor. According to my mom Gunhild was an incredible good cook and my mom was raving about all these delicious dishes that she had at Gunhild’s home. And my mom told me so many stories about Gunhild and her own childhood in Southern Sweden and she digged out her photo album and showing me photos of Gunhild.
In the left photo below you can see on the left my grandparents' friend Gunhild. On the right is Gunhild's sister. Next to Gunhild is my grandfather and in the middle that is my grandmother. My grandfather was very tall, maybe that is why I am so tall[or maybe it is because my dad is very tall, who knows ...
In the picture on the right: can you guess who it is on the very left? It is my beautiful mamma.   


 Ever since my grandparents got the recipe from Gunhild they always used her pepparkakor recipe because it is not only very delicious and of course the very best but is also the easiest way to prepare the pepparkakor dough. Oftentimes the pepparkakor dough requires that you let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight and sometimes it is difficult to roll out the dough but with Gunhild’s recipe it is quite easy to roll out the dough.
My mom also gave this pepparkakor recipe several people and everyone told her that this was the best recipe for pepparkakor that they ever tried out. I cannot tell if this is true because this is the only pepparkakor recipe that I ever tried out but I can tell you that it was really easy to prepare the dough and the pepparkakor taste heavenly. They are crispy and the spicies are not too strong and overpowering. 



 Making pepparkakor was truly a very special moment this year. Unlike my mom I think it is my favorite Christmas activity and I do not mind at all rolling out the dough over and over again and cutting out countless of hearts, pigs, horses, reindeers which are all traditional Swedish Christmas cookie shapes (my favorite shape is the horse).
Munching on pepparkakor and the smell of pepparkakor, listening to Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio and light a candle: this is Christmas for me.
Oh, and maybe singing the pepparkakor song "Vi komma, vi komma från Pepparkakeland" to myself, a song that I learned when I was a little girl. 
I am very happy to share this recipe with you, my dear reader. It is a recipe which became to one of my most precious recipes that I own.

Makes a lot of cookies (I made 224 cookies, small, medium and big sizes) 

INGREDIENTS

  • 200 g light syrup/light molasses *
  • 150 g granulated sugar
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of ground ginger (or 3 gramm)
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of ground cloves (or 3 gramm)
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of cinnamon (or 3 gramm)
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of baking soda (or 3 gramm)
  • 150 g unsalted butter (cut in cubes)
  • 1 egg
  • 500 g all-purpose flour
* In Sweden syrup is often used in baking (it is made out of sugar beets). You can replace it with lights molasses but I must admit that I always use Swedish syrup and do not have any experience with molasses. Read about Scandinavian syrup and how to replace it here. 

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 175°C. 
  • Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Be prepared: you need a lot of baking sheets. I used three baking sheets at a time. When I took out the pepparkakor from the oven, I let the baking sheets cool for a few minutes and then placed the next batch of cookies. 
  • Place syrup, sugar and spices in a big saucepan and mix the ingredients.
  • Let the mixture boil up, then remove from heat.
  • Add baking soda and stir. Add butter cubes and the egg; mix until the butter is dissolved.
  • Add flour and mix with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are well combinded. If the dough is too sticky add more flour.
  • On a well-floured surface place the dough (the dough is still warm).  
  • Roll out dough very thinly (2 mm thin) on a well-floured surface (or between two parchment papers). Use a quarter of the dough at a time and do not forget to flour your rolling pin occasionally and your surface as well. 
  • Cut out cookies with shaped cookie cutters. Place cookies on baking sheets.
  • Roll out the scraps and repeat until you cut out the entire dough. The second time you roll out the dough it is getting a little bit harder rolling out the dough but then again the dough is firmer and it is easier to cut out the cookies. 
  • Bake the pepparkakor for 4 to 5 minutes. 
  • Let the cookies cool on a wire rack. 
  • Store the pepparkakor in air-tight cookie tins.