Food editor Elisabeth Tatter: My recipe of the week – The tastiest cinnamon stars ever

    Hello, welcome to my kitchen. I'm Elisabeth, food editor at Freund. I love delicious food and I like trying new recipes. Recently, every week I've been inviting you to visit me in my kitchen - or take a look at my foodie inspiration folder (yes, it's real) - and share my recipe of the week with you. Be it a quick everyday meal after work, a delicious cake for the weekend, an innovative creation or a brand new food trend that I just discovered.

    Recipe of the week: The tastiest cinnamon stars ever – it won’t be Christmas without this recipe

    For as long as I can remembersternemy absolute. I just love the little macaron-like Christmas cookies - even as a child. My mom didn't think it was that great for a long time, probably because of the combination of small children, lots of them, sticky dough and even stickier icing isn't the most relaxed mixture, but they were always baked anyway. And now I also have the ability to bake sweet cookiesperfected– and reduces the sticking of the dough.

    It is crucial for the preparationKeep the dough cold for a long time, before punching out the stars. The colder the dough, the easier it is to cut out because it sticks significantly less. And what thatDistributing the castAs far as things go: This involves a lot of work, but it's worth it and can be done easily with a little practice and two teaspoons. One more thingChristmas musicand a delicious oneMulled wine or punchand the cinnamon stars bake themselves...

    In the Christmas bakery: The tastiest cinnamon stars ever

    Ingredients for approx. 1½ trays:

    • 3 egg whites
    • 250 g powdered sugar (plus a little more for rolling out)
    • 250-300 g ground almonds (depending on the size of the eggs)
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 tsp rum
    • 1 packet of vanilla sugar

    My tip:Preparing twice the recipe straight away – it’s worth it!

    Preparation:

    1. Beat the egg whites very firmly and sift in the powdered sugar.
    2. Halve the mixture. Immediately cool one part, add the ground almonds, cinnamon, rum and vanilla sugar to the others and mix everything well. If the dough seems extremely sticky, add more ground almonds. However, the dough should not be too firm.
    3. Also chill the dough and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably longer.
    4. Preheat oven to 100 degrees. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
    5. Sprinkle the work surface with a little powdered sugar and roll out the dough to a thickness of approx. 8 mm. Cut out stars and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
    6. Once all the stars have been cut out, the icing - i.e. the remaining egg white and powdered sugar mixture - is distributed on top. To do this, use a teaspoon to spread small blobs on the cookies and then use two teaspoons to spread each one down to the tips of the stars.
    7. Let the cinnamon stars dry in the oven for about 45 minutes. The cookies should then still be soft, but no longer sticky and the icing should be firm. Then, as the cookies cool, they harden and get the macaron-like consistency that I love.