Not many things are constant in life, except for my mother calling me every Sunday and her sending me a box of Christmas cookies every December for the past 30 years.

Naturally, there is a limit to what she can send in the mail, so I started baking myself to have enough to go around. Needless to say, they were as big of a hit in California as they are in Bavaria. For the next four weeks leading up to the holidays, I am glad to share a few classic German cookie recipes.

Happy Baking!
Holger

This final cookie recipe is one of the easiest and quickest to make and an absolute favorite. You will be surprised how fast these chocolate clouds come together. 

They are little chocolate/almond meringues and melt in your mouth. I recommend making two batches since one won’t last you very long. Go for small dollops when you put the mixture on the cookie sheet. They will expand quite a bit when baking. These cookies don’t have any distinct holiday spices and are great to make all year round. I promise everybody will love them. 

Ingredients:

• 200g slivered almonds

• 200g + 1 tablespoon sugar

• 3 egg whites

• 200g sugar

• 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

• 1 pinch cinnamon

• 100g bittersweet chocolate

Steps:

1. Toast Almonds and 1 tablespoon sugar in a pan until golden brown- let cool

2. Grate or process the chocolate into fine pieces

3. In a mixing bowl beat egg white until stiff peaks form

4. Fold in remaining sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate

5. Fold in roasted almonds

6. Using two tablespoons portion small mounds onto a parchment lined cookie sheet

7. Bake at 350f for 10-15 min

8. Press a blanched almond into the top of each cookie

9. Bake at 300F for 20-25 min, until slightly golden brown

They are somewhat similar to our first recipe, the Bethmännchen, in that the main ingredients are almond flour, eggs and sugar. Only this time we are adding cocoa powder for the chocolate flavor and we roll out the dough. You might need to add extra almond flour to get the right consistency. The cinnamon and cloves give them the distinctive holiday flavor. Choose any shape you like, and feel free to get more creative with the icing. And if you are short on time skip the cookie cutter altogether and cut them into rectangles. They will taste just as delicious. 

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites

• 250g sugar

• ½ teaspoon Vanilla 

• Pinch salt

• 1 tablespoon melted butter

• 2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

• 250g ground almonds

• ½ tablespoon Backpulver (a mixture of 2 parts Cream of Tartar to 1 part Baking Soda)

• 125g powdered sugar

Steps:

1. In mixing bowl beat egg whites into stiff peaks

2. Fold in sugar, vanilla and salt

3. Fold in cocoa, cinnamon and cloves into mixture

4. Mix ground almonds with Backpulver and fold into mixture until firm dough forms

5. Turn out onto a cool surface and roll dough to approximately  ½” thickness

6. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet

7. Bake at 350f for 15 min

8. Let cool

9. To make the glaze: Mix powdered sugar with 1 ½ tablespoon hot water

10. Pipe or brush glaze onto cookies