Today it's time for some cosy Christmas baking in our kitchen. Jörg and I are
making three different kinds of Christmas biscuits, in German 'Weihnachtsplätzchen' that are
very very popular in Germany: Vanillekipferl, then of course Zimtsterne and last but not least Linzer
Plätzchen. Well, who can resist during the festive season? And a big hello from our kitchen! Hello! I
think Jörg is already very excited. Hmm, yes I am. Because we're going to make Vanillekipferl first
which are so popular in Germany. Yes, I love them. Yes, I think Jörg has huge childhood memories.
Yeah, my mother always made them. Yeah. And these ones will be for you only. I'm excited because I
think the kitchen will smell very Christmassy. Yes. It will smell like childhood memories. Yes,
I think so too. Okay, let's start with the dough first because I think it's quite easy. Yeah. So
this is what the end result will look like. We hope! We hope so yes. So this is what you need.
This is regular flour because we decided to just use regular flour. This will definitely work. And
butter, two egg yolks, then almonds, a little bit of sugar and last but not least a pinch of salt.
And Jörg and I will translate the recipes for you so you will find
everything down below in the info box in case you want to bake the Plätzchen.
So what you have to do now is just put all your ingredients into a bowl.
And now start kneading.
This should be quite quick I think.
This looks very good now.
Nice. Very smooth.
Now take your Vanillekipferl dough and let me see.
And I cut, I cut the dough into three pieces and then
kind of create rolls. A little bit like a sausage roll without the sausage.
And then these rolls have to be in the fridge for about an hour.
So we have three rolls now.
I cover them with cling film and then put that into the fridge for an hour.
It's time to make our Vanillekipferl. I think Jörg can't wait to be honest. No.
Okay. Now this is very cool which is perfect. Now I cut slices of about a centimeter.
Looks good. I think this is good.
We'll see.
And then
I roll it and then I think I need,
this is huge Jörg, this is a huge Vanillekipferl. Don't you think? Hmm.
But nice. Yeah. We'll see. Well, I think they will get better.
You think? Yeah, excellent. I don't know. We'll see.
They basically look like mini croissants. Yeah, or mini bananas. Or mini bananas yeah.
And this goes into the oven for 20 to 25 minutes at 150 degrees Celsius.
And I think they are going to be very big but why not? So when the Vanillekipferl
are ready - yeah -, they will be battered in a mixture of icing sugar and we call it vanillin
sugar - yeah - which is simply sugar with vanilla flavour. Yeah, we brought it from
Germany. Yeah, yeah, you can also use a vanilla pod. Yeah with sugar - yeah - and mix it yourself.
Yeah so we're preparing that now. 'Cause the first batch is already ready. Yes.
Look. Mmmhhh.
I think they look good. Hmm. Especially the ones you made.
Now I'm taking the hot Vanillekipferl because
they're still hot - hmmm - and I'm battering them in sugar. Yes.
Looks very good.
And the Vanillekipferl are done. And they're delicious. Are they? Hmm. Yeah, you just had
one. And now we will continue with the uh Linzer - Plätzchen - Linzer Plätzchen. And I'm so looking
forward to tea time. This will be a real treat. On to the next Plätzchen. Yeah. Linzer Plätzchen. And
they look like this. I can't wait. And to share the burden with Kirsten I will try them. I don't
think this is a burden because this will be a feast in the end. Yeah, it's a big responsibility.
And this is what you need. Yeah.
Almonds,
flour and we're using gluten-free flour for this one, salt, butter,
this is icing sugar.
And it says the recipe says two egg yolks but our eggs are quite small so we said three.
And vanilla pod. And now just put everything into a bowl. The same as with the Vanillekipferl. Yeah.
And now just knead everything, it will take a while. Yes.
Looks good. Yes. And you can see all the vanilla. Hmm. I think this will
be very good. Yeah. And also this has to go into the fridge for a couple of hours.
Yeah. So this is the dough for the Linzer Plätzchen and we just cut it in half.
And Linzer Plätzchen consist of two parts so this is the lower part and this is what we
we will bake first, right? Yeah. And then the part with different designs.
So these ones have to bake for seven to nine minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
Now we have to make a slight alteration with the Linzer Plätzchen - yeah - because the
recipe says we should use raspberry jelly. Yeah but we only could get raspberry jam. Yeah,
we couldn't find the jelly we needed but I think it will be fine. It will
be fine. Yeah. Let's hope so. So this is the jam we're using, raspberry jam and
I'm taking
two tablespoons and warm this up a little bit.
And now sprinkle with icing sugar and I think they look lovely, don't they?
Am I allowed to try one? Try.
Mmhmm.
Very nice.
Did you have one Jörg? Yeah. Want another one? And now on to my ultimate favourite German
Christmas biscuits. Zimtsterne, cinnamon stars. And they look like this and
I've loved them since I was a child. I think you're not too mad about them Jörg. No.
So Jörg prefers Vanillekipferl but Zimtsterne has to be in the top three German Christmas
biscuits we think. And for the Zimtsterne you need ground almonds, egg white, then icing sugar
and of course cinnamon. And as you can see our icing sugar is quite crumbly so I'm using a sieve.
To make it a little bit finer. Onto the next step and now I'm beating the egg whites.
Now I'm putting this mixture into a bowl,
I'm adding the almonds and
the cinnamon.
I just slowly mix everything together.
So this is a little bit more like batter than a dough and
I covered
a small plate with cling film,
put this on top, cover with cling film and then this is ready to go into the fridge.
And now it's time for the cinnamon stars,
Zimtsterne. Yeah. And for that we sprinkle a bit of almonds onto the work surface.
And now take your star mold,
I have to be very careful because it's quite sticky.
So these are our Zimsterne - yeah - and as you can see they are
quite big. They're actually huge. Yeah, they're Megasterne. Yes, they are. And
that's why we don't have too many. And now they get some kind of coating so I'm going to beat
an egg white, then add icing sugar and then I'm going to use a brush and brush the top with this.
This probably wouldn't win an art award but I think it's okay. And this goes into the
oven for 15 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius. And then we're done. It's now a quarter past
four and we started at 10 o'clock and to be honest I didn't expect it to last that long but it
takes it takes a lot of time which is fine. These are the cinnamon stars. What do you
think Jörg? They look good. Really? Yes. I don't know. They're big. They are very big but yeah,
I think they will be good though. Yeah. We should try one. So made with love. Yeah.
This is what we baked today.
It's it's a lot I think. But you know what Jörg? You have to try the cinnamon star.
I hope it's it's all right. Mmmhh.
Is it good? Mmmhh.
Let me try it.
It's good but the funny thing is although we used even more cinnamon than the recipe said, it could
have even more. It could have more so this is what we will put in the in the description box.
We will just add a bit more cinnamon because it could do with with more. That's so strange but
other than that really really good. Very nice and it's actually not too sweet I think. Not
too sweet that's good. And Jörg has to open his advent calendar. Did you find the door?
Fifth, yeah? I'd like to see what's inside.
Yeah that's so difficult I know. I always struggle as well.
Two hearts. I had two hearts as well.
I love it. So this one is from Niederegger which is very good. It's very big and this is what
was inside today. Two marzipan hearts. Very good. We're done and I think very literally. Yeah. We
are quite tired to be honest. It took all day but it's fine. Yeah. You have a lot of sweet
treats - yeah - to take to the office with you so - yeah - that's good. Well, we hope you like this
video so we'll see you again very soon and take care. And until next time. Bye. Bye. Bye bye.