Orangeat and Zitronat recipe (candid orange & lemon)

This year I forgot to stock up on Zitronat and Orangeat when I was in Germany. Those ingredients are very essential for German Christmas cookies and I still have not found it locally.

Time to make it.

Ingredients for Orangeat:
2 organic Oranges (Sevilla, if available)
1 cup of sugar
1 cup water

• wash oranges with warm water.
• peel the oranges, if you can in nice even stripes. Peel might be not the right word, you need more than just the skin, but the white part. I used a knife to get it all.
• toss Orange skin-peel in a pot with water the water and sugar. Boil on low for about 50 minutes.
• move the Orangeat on a drying rack and let it dry out over night. Cut it in little pieces.

I have not figured out what to do with the left over syrup, but there must be a use?

Do exactly the same with lemons if you need Zitronat (just use lemons instead of oranges)

Zimtsterne Recipe, Traditional German Cinnamon Christmas Cookies

Christmas again :)

Time to bake some Zimtsterne. This cookies can be a little be tricky if you are not sticking completely to the process. So stick to it and you will be fine, unless me :)




Ingredients:

5 egg whites
400 gram almond meal
400 gram powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
flour for dusting 

• beat egg whites with an electrical mixer on high until they are super stiff. Add powdered sugar and lemon juice slowly. The result will be a shiny stiff texture.
• set 4 tablespoons a side in a different bowl for glazing.
• add the almond meal to the rest of the dough carefully. Do not use the mixer for this, just a spatula. Make sure you do over mix, the dough should be airy and fluffy. Add cinnamon.
• preheat the oven to 140 Celsius or 285 Fahrenheit.
• time to roll out the dough. Make sure you have a very generous amount flour dusted on your work area. If you are not using enough you will have a hard time to cut out the cookies (the dough is really sticky) also dust your roller very generously. Keep the dough thicker than a centimeter. Thicker makes it easier to work with. Do not be afraid of using too much flour, you need too, if not this won's work and will be a sticky mess. Dust the cookie cutter with flour each time before you cut out a new cookie to prevent sticking. I set aside an extra plate with flour to keep the cookie cutters dusted.
• Finish with brushing the extra egg whites from earlier on the cookies.
• bake cookies for about 30-40 minutes. Take cookies out as soon they are done, they should be still soft. If they turn out really hard give them a couple of days to get soft again.