Weihnachtszeit

We are looking forward to the beginning of the festive season.  There are so many different Christmas traditions here in Germany and we would like to describe a few interesting ones.  Some of you might have German ancestors and might realize that these traditions have  crossed the Atlantic and stayed alive in your families.  We would like to present some photos of our decorations at home and give you a recipe for a traditional German cookie which is easy to prepare and very delicious.

Later on we are planning to show you photos from the famous Christmas markets.....

                                           Spitzbuben

150 gr. unsalted butter, room temperature
200 gr. sugar
2 eggs
1 small packet vanilla sugar
375 gr. flour

     Beat the butter until creamy.  Add the sugar and continue to beat until combined.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mix in the vanilla sugar, then the flour.
     Roll out the dough (ca. 0.5 cm) and cut out the shapes with special cookie molds.  Put them on a cookie sheet into the preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes (ca. 166-180 degrees).  Don't wait until they are brown.  We use the old family molds that belonged to our great-grandmother and were used around 1900.  You can see some of them in the photo below.  If you do not have any molds, you may use a round shape such as an eggcup of a wineglass.
     If you have baked small round shapes you may take one of them after baking, put on marmelade or jam and put another cookie on top.  They are delicious.
     If you want to store them, please put them into a tin box.