Recipe: Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars)

 In Germany there is a great kind of star-shaped cookies called Zimtsterne or cinnamon stars. They are mostly only available during the holidays. So, I love cinnamon. Therefore, I knew I needed to learn how to make these.

Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars):
3 egg whites
2 cups (250g) powdered sugar + more to roll out dough and thicken icing
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
a few drops of rum or almond extract, if desired
1 tbsp cinnamon (more or less to taste)
5 1/2 cups (400g) ground almonds or hazelnuts


Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. 



Slowly beat 2 cups of powdered sugar into it. 


Set aside two heaping tablespoons of the meringue mixture. 


Add the vanilla, rum or almond extract and cinnamon to the remaining meringue. 


Fold in the ground nuts half at a time with a spatula until dough comes together and separates from the side of the bowl. 



Roll out portions of the dough and cut out stars with a cookie cutter. 




Bake at 350°F or 180°C for 10-13 minutes. Do not allow to brown. Cookies should be lighter in color and no longer look wet. 


Add more powdered sugar to the meringue set aside until it reaches icing consistency. 


Put icing into a piping bag without a tip and pipe icing on cooled cookies. 


Allow to crust about 20-30 minutes. 






Watch us make these German Christmas cookies on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/bovOgczZ1rE
Schaut zu wie wir diese deutsche Plätzchen auf YouTube machen hier: https://youtu.be/sILxYCROepY

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dress up a Sheet Cake: White on White Wedding Cake

Image
I've been thinking about all the things that have been cancelled because of Covid19 and I think the saddest is the weddings. So much expense, planning, excitement... gone. Now, I know most of you who had to reschedule your wedding will eventually have them. But I don't know how much money you would have lost because of the cancellation of your first planned wedding. So, I thought some of you might need to save money on your future wedding. So, I thought I would share with you a way you could make your own wedding cake out of a regular, plain sheet cake. I started out with a frosted sheet cake. You can frost it yourself or buy it frosted.  Then I thought I would use all of these tips, but I only ended up using the small round tip and the medium star tip. The petal tip and leaf tip weren't needed for this design.  Using a skewer, I traced two interlocking hearts as well as the monograms of the couple. In this case, T and C.  Then I traced over the letters with th
Read more

Dairy-Free Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Image
After going through the effort of making my vanilla cake gluten free, dairy free and soy free, I needed a dairy free frosting. American buttercream is easy to make dairy free. But the family I'm making the cake for prefers Swiss meringue buttercream. I googled how to make dairy free Swiss meringue buttercream, and basically every blog I found said that it wasn't possible. They all said you have to use butter. I am not willing to accept that answer. So, I decided to experiment a bit until I found a ratio that works. So, first off, here's the recipe: Dairy-free Swiss Meringue Buttercream: 7 egg whites 2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups dairy-free margarine 1/2 cup shortening pinch of salt 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tbsp vanilla sugar 1 tsp butter vanilla flavoring (optional, if omitting, double amount of vanilla flavoring)  I'm using a stand mixer today with a whisk attachment.  I first whisk the egg whites, sugar and vanilla sugar, if using vanilla sugar. Then I h
Read more

Tutorial: How to Make a 2D Simba Cake Topper

Image
 I tried to make this character 3D. I really did. But it was so terrible I just couldn't bring myself to use it.  I eventually decided to try making a 2D figure. Then I could use a template. So first, here's the image I used: First, I cut out a yellow circle to use as a background. Then I added some brown to yellow fondant and rolled it out. I cut around the template and cut out the paws. Then I added the paws cut out of white fondant. Then I used a pointed scuplting tool to press the lines of the template into the fondant. Then, removing the template, I deepened the lines to make them more visible. I added a white muzzle and a pink nose. I painted some brown food coloring mixed with alcohol into the shadows of the face and ears. Finally, I added some undiluted black food coloring to the ears, eyebrows and eyes. How adorable is this? And so clearly Simba. This is a great method for those who can't accurately draw the characters themselves. In other words, perfect for me. Wa
Read more