American Baker in Germany

 This recipe is really traditional in Germany around Christmastime.  Lebkuchen: 6 eggs 1 cup (200g) brown sugar 2 tbsp honey 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp Lebkuchengewürz or pumpkin spice dash salt 2 cups (250g) ground almonds 2 1/2 cups (250g) ground hazelnuts 2 1/2 cups (200g) candied orange peel 2 1/2 cups (200g) candied lemon peel 200g couverture chocolate about 50 wafer paper rounds Beat eggs, sugar and honey until frothy.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients (minus couverture chocolate and wafer paper).  Spoon batter onto wafer paper rounds.  Bake at 300°F or 150°C for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely.  Melt couverture chocolate and drizzle over cookies. Allow to set up. These are like tiny chocolate covered fruit cakes. Very festive. Frohe Weihnachten. Watch us make these classic Christmas cookies on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/X6jxtoks1WA Schaut zu wie wir diese klassische Weihnachtskekse auf unserem YouTube Kanal machen hier: https:...

 This are a traditional German Christmas recipe. Vanillekipferl: 2 cups (250g) flour 1 tbsp baking powder 2/3 cup (125g) sugar 1 tbsp vanilla extract or 3 tbsp vanilla sugar 2 egg yolks 3/4 cup (200g) butter 1 cup (120g) ground almonds 1/3 cup (50g) powdered sugar 4 tbsp vanilla sugar (or regular sugar if vanilla sugar isn't available) Cream butter.  Add sugar, vanilla and egg yolks.  Add baking powder, almonds and flour.  Knead to finish adding all ingredients.  Form into a thick rectangle of dough about 2 inches (5cm) wide and half an inch (1cm) thick.  Cut slices of dough and bend in crescents.  Lay on a sheet of baking paper and bake at 350°F or 180°C for about 10 minutes.  Mix powdered sugar and vanilla sugar together and toss the hot cookies in it. Allow to cool. These cookies melt in your mouth and taste strongly of vanilla. They have a strong vanilla scent as well. Merry Christmas and Frohe Weihnachten. Watch us make these traditional cook...

 This is a great addition to any Christmas celebration. Christmas Butter Cookies: 1 2/3 cup (200g) flour 1/2 cup (100g) sugar pinch of salt 1/2 cup (125g) butter 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar about 1/4 cup of milk for consistency about 100g of chocolate for dipping sprinkles as desired Make sure your butter is room temperature and nice and soft. Cream butter, sugar and salt together.  Beat in egg and vanilla. Slowly add the flour.  Add enough milk to get the batter to pipeable consistency.  Put the batter into a piping bag with a large open star tip.  Pipe cookies onto lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 375°F or 190°C for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Dip cool cookies into melted chocolate on one side and sprinkle with sprinkles as desired. The cookies are soft and melt in your mouth. Watch us make this great Christmas recipe on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/LbE3A_4oh3Y Schaut zu wie wir dieses schöne Weihnachtsreze...

 I actually made these cookies last year. But here are my best tips on decorating Christmas cookies. Two essential elements to decorating Christmas cookies. Cookies and frosting. As a kid I always used buttercream. Turns out that doesn't always work that well. So, over time, I came to prefer royal icing. Royal icing is rather liquid and melds together when wet, but dries quite solid and dry. I works best to use them in piping bags without tips. You will only need the smallest of holes in the bag, so only snip a tiny hole. The cookies should be solid enough that you can pick them up. You can use any cutter you want. If you don't have any, you can freehand them, or follow paper templates. But most Christmas cutters are widely available and not too expensive. This first cookie is an example of one made all at once. If you cover wet royal icing with another color, the colors will meld together and the surface will be rather flat. First, I outlined the tree with green and filled in ...