Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Star Cookies) Recipe

 I took German in high school, then the summer after my senior year was fortunate enough to visit Germany via a class trip. Ever since then, I have had a special place in my heart for German culture and cuisine. So it seemed appropriate to end this series with a traditional German Christmas cookie. 

originally found here

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, plus more for rolling
15 ounces sliced almonds, with skin (about 4 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

Directions:

1. Sift the powdered sugar. Put 1/2 cup of the sifted powdered sugar, 10 ounces (3 heaping cups) of the almonds and all the cinnamon in a food processor. Process until the nuts are finely ground, with just a few larger pieces.

2. Whip the egg whites in the bowl of an electric stand mixer on high speed (about speed 6) until they hold soft peaks, about 1 minute. Gradually add the remaining powdered sugar while whipping, until the whites are thick, creamy and somewhat stiff, about 2 minutes more. Set aside 2/3 cup of this meringue for topping the cookies.

3. Fold the ground almond mixture and the lemon zest into the remaining meringue to make a stiff dough.

4. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Lay a sheet of parchment or waxed paper on the work surface and lightly dust with powdered sugar. Turn the dough out onto the dusted paper, flatten and dust with more sugar as needed, and then lay another sheet of parchment or waxed paper on top. Roll the dough between the papers until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Flip the dough over and gently peel off the top sheet of the paper. For ease when cutting, lay the paper back on the dough, flip again and gently pull off the other side of the paper so that the dough is fully released from it.

6. Cut cookies with a 3-inch star cutter and place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Reroll excess dough using process from step 5 until you have used all of it. 

7. Use a small spoon to spread the reserved meringue (about 1 tsp per cookies) over the top of each cookie, taking care not to let the meringue drip over the sides. 

8. Press or sprinkle remaining sliced almonds in a decorative pattern into the meringue. 

9. Bake cookies until bottoms are light golden brown and meringue is set and crisp, about 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and open the oven door to release heat and dry cookies out in the oven for 10 more minutes.

Normally, I take care to get pictures of the entire process. I am a visual learner, and I appreciate when recipes show in-process photos so that I know what I'm doing looks right. This time, I did the recipe in two parts: I made the meringue and the dough, then went to pick E up from school, then finished the recipe. So I completely spaced on taking photos of the making of the meringue and the dough. I hope you can forgive me. ;) 

On the plus side, making this recipe in two parts is totally an option. You can make the meringue, then set aside what you'll need for the topping in an airtight container in the fridge. Then you make the dough, roll it out between the parchment paper, and store it in the fridge. It can stay that way for about 12 hours if need be. 

On the other plus side, these cookies are delicious-- sweet, but not too much, and very nutty and spicy. They are very different from anything I've ever made before, but remind me a bit of macaroons. Bonus: they're gluten-free!

I've had a lot of fun with this series, and I hope you have, too! My house is just the way I like it: completely overrun with delicious cookies. 

As always, don't forget to check I do deClaire for Laura's recipe, too! How amazing do these sound?

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One Year

This past Sunday was J's and my one year wedding anniversary. I am so grateful to have him in my life. He is my partner, soul mate, best friend. I can't imagine where I would be without him.

Our wedding was very simple, with just a few close friends and family. We found out last October that J was getting sent out here to California, then we got engaged in November and married in December. We had a small ceremony at sunset in the Old Market in Omaha (under the archway at 12th and Farnam, if any of you Omaha folk are curious). We were taking a risk having an outdoor ceremony in December in Nebraska, and freezing rain was forecast for that day, but it held off until we had moved to our reception venue, for which everyone was extremely grateful. 

We had our reception in the party room of Blue Sushi, where we had our first date. We had hands-down the best food I've ever had at a reception, and I'm not just saying that because it was my reception. 

While our wedding was small, and the planning happened over the course of three weeks, it was still very meaningful to us, and one of my happiest memories. I look forward to making many more memories with this man throughout the rest of our lives together.

Candy Cane Cookies

Happy Friday, and welcome to another weekly installment of Christmas Cookies with myself and Laura! This week, E helped me tackle candy cane cookies. It's sort of like playing with Play-Doh, but with cookie dough instead. Also more delicious.

originally found here

Ingredients

1 box (or bag) sugar cookie mix
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup softened cream cheese (which is 2 and 1/3 oz of a stick)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for surface
Red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325. In a bowl (I, as always, used my stand mixer), combine sugar cookie mix, melted butter, egg, cream cheese, and flour; mix together to form dough. 

 

 

 

 

2. Separate dough into 2 equal portions and place in 2 different bowls. I divided the dough then put one of the halves back in the stand mixer bowl.

 

3. Add red food coloring gradually to one bowl of dough, kneading together until desired shade of red is created. I kneaded the red dough in my stand mixer (with the dough hook attachment) to keep the red food coloring from getting all over the place.

 

 

 

4. Add peppermint extract to uncolored dough and knead together. (This was E's job.) 

 

 

5. On a floured work surface, takes small chunks of each dough, and roll into 1/4-inch-wide ropes (or "worms," as E so charmingly called them), each about 6 inches long. For each cookie, carefully twist  the red and white ropes of dough together and shape into a candy cane. 

 

 

 

 

6. Spread candy canes out on cookie sheets and bake on the top shelf of the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool before serving.

 

 

can you guess which ones E made? :)

 

 

E had a lot of fun with this recipe, but it is NOT for the perfectionist. I had a hard time letting go of my need to make the candy canes look like candy canes and just having fun with it, but once I did, we had a blast. :) And then things got weird...

Once we got tired of making candy canes, we decided to use cookie cutters on the rest of the dough. The only cookie cutters I own are Star Wars (Yoda, R2D2, and Vader), however, so it looks like Santa is getting a candy cane, some nerd-dom, and a peppermint candy (or planet?) -shaped cookie for his snack this year. ;) It's okay, they're delicious no matter what form they take. 

Don't forget to check out I do deClaire for another Christmas cookie recipe! Looks like this week is mint themed! 

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style: The Cardigan Uncertainty

cardigan, tee/ Target | necklace/ laurenelainemoore | jeans/ Old Navy | boots/ JustFab

I am seriously loving cognac and black looks right now. This cardigan is the last of my Target haul. I grabbed it because the color is PERFECT (I've been looking for more of a camel than tan), and the length is about where I want it. But now looking at the pictures, I think the fit might be off. Ideally, I'd like something with a v-neck, and something that doesn't look so baggy and sloppy (but still has room to layer). This has plenty of room to layer, but it looks like there might be a bit TOO much room. Thoughts? Help a girl out.

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style: Sweater Love

scarf/ Kohl's | sweater, flats/ Target | pants/ Ross

1) This sweater is another from my Target haul last week. I can't decide if I like this one or the other one better, both are perfect holiday season sweaters!

2) Remember the maroon pants I bought two months ago, intending to get them tailored? Yeah, these are them... still untailored. The fit isn't awful this way, I'd just rather the hems be a bit more skinny ankle-pant type cut. Would make it easier to fit them into boots (which is how I wanted to wear this, since really it's too cold for flats, but at least I wasn't leaving the house the day I wore this). That's why these photos were taken inside. ;)

3) This is another example of wearing green and red type colors without looking like Christmas threw up on you. The leopard print is a nice way to tone down the holiday colors, I think.

4) I still have a lot of work to do on my DSLR skillz. I know the graininess and lack of being able to tell the pants are maroon is an ISO issue, I just need to play around a little more with the settings until I get it right. Or maybe look it up. But I'm more of a trial-and-error kind of gal.

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