It's that time of year when you roll up your sleeves and prepare to fill your kitchen with the heavenly smell of Christmas baking. Whether cinnamon, cloves, cardamom or star anise - these spices combined with the aroma of butter and nuts immediately bring a Christmas feeling into the house. Baking cookies is simply part of the pre-Christmas season and we have prepared the best cookie recipes for you. Fromcrumbly vanilla crescentsto juicy cinnamon stars. But how do you make the perfect cinnamon stars? What should you pay attention to when preparing the dough and what mistakes should you avoid? You can find our baking tips for the popular Christmas cookies as well as some ideas for recipe variations in the article.
Cinnamon stars are a classic in the run-up to Christmas
Cinnamon stars – who doesn’t know them? Made almost entirely from ground nuts, this pastry brings the necessary variation to the classic Christmas cookies. The perfect cinnamon stars are soft and juicy and covered in a delicious white icing.
Which is better – cinnamon stars with almonds or hazelnuts? Many people ask themselves this question, and the answer is very simple: what you prefer. Or if you can't decide, just take both.
Cinnamon stars scare off many baking enthusiasts. The recipe itself only has a few ingredients, but it requires a bit of sensitivity and a lot of attention when baking. Have you tried several recipes but something always went wrong? Since homemade still tastes best, we recommend you try making this Christmas treat yourself. Here we reveal the best tips and tricks for baking so that your cinnamon stars always turn out perfectly.
Ingredients for approx. 24 medium-sized or 40 small cinnamon stars:
For the dough:
- 350 g almonds, ground (or 300 g grated hazelnuts or a mixture of both)
- 100g powdered sugar
- 2 egg whites (if the eggs are very small, use 3)
- pinch of salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 packet of vanilla sugar (optional)
For the icing:
- 100g powdered sugar
- 1 egg white
- pinch of salt
Preparation:Make the dough and let it cool
In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Sift the powdered sugar and carefully fold it into the beaten egg whites in portions.
Then fold the almonds/hazelnuts, cinnamon and optional vanilla sugar into the egg mixture and stir and knead until the dough is easy to knead but not completely set. The dough should stick, but if it remains too sticky, you can add a little more ground almonds/hazelnuts (do not add wheat flour to the dough!). Wrap the finished dough in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours, preferably overnight.
The Zimtster shape
To shape the cookies, lightly sprinkle the work surface with almond flour or powdered sugar and roll out the dough to a thickness of approx. 6-8 mm. To prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin, a piece of foil is placed in between.
Cut out the cinnamon stars with star-shaped cookie cutters and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. So that the dough doesn't stick to the cutters, the shapes are dipped in either powdered sugar or cold water from time to time.
After cutting out the dough for the first time, knead together the remaining dough and roll it out again.
Make the icing, spread on the cookies and bake
Now preheat the oven to 100 °C fan oven or 140 °C top/bottom heat. In the meantime, make the cast. To do this, first beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Towards the end, carefully fold in the powdered sugar and continue beating until the icing is very stiff.
Brush the cinnamon stars with glaze before baking. It's best to use a pastry brush, working from the inside out towards the serrations. If necessary, touch up the corners with a toothpick.
Bake the Christmas cookies in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. After 10 minutes of baking, check the cinnamon stars. The glaze should remain white. If it starts to brown, cover the cookies with aluminum foil. The perfect cinnamon stars are baked a little firmer at the corners and still soft in the middle.
Common mistakes when preparing cinnamon stars
For the perfect cinnamon stars at Christmas time, you must avoid the following mistakes when preparing them:
Mistake #1: You mix the egg whites together for the dough and icing
Sugared egg whites play a dual role in this recipe - they are used both in the dough and as a glaze on the cookies. Since the dough should be cooled well before shaping, it is recommended to mix the glaze for brushing shortly before baking.
Mistake #2: You bake the cinnamon stars at a temperature that is too high
To ensure that your cinnamon stars are soft and juicy, you should set the oven to the right temperature. The optimal baking temperature is around 100 °C circulating air or 140 °C top/bottom heat. This means the cookies are dried rather than baked, which results in a soft consistency.
*Do you like crunchy cinnamon stars? Then you can bake them at a higher temperature, i.e. 180 °C, until they are lightly browned. The traditional cinnamon stars are soft.
Mistake #3: Not whipping egg whites until stiff
This is a typical error with thePreparation of egg white icing. For this recipe, you should beat the egg whites for both the batter and the icing (separately). So make sure that the bowl and the whisk are completely dry and free of grease. Be sure to use cold egg whites that have been cleanly separated from the yolks. Also add a pinch of salt to the egg whites to make them stiff.
Bake cinnamon stars in a different way
There at thePreparation of traditional cinnamon starsWith no flour on the ingredient list, these Christmas treats are completely gluten-free. But how can you vary the classic recipe?
- You can prepare the cinnamon stars without sugar low carb if you replace the powdered sugar with its erythritol alternative. They are also ideal for diabetics.
- To bake the cinnamon stars vegan, you can replace the protein in the cinnamon star dough with water and lemon juice and use vegan egg whites for the glaze - the so-called aquafaba (chickpea water).
- You are looking for an original oneChristmas present from the kitchen? Place the dry ingredients for the recipe in a jar and write the instructions on a piece of paper. The cinnamon star baking mix is the perfect gift for all baking enthusiasts.
