Holiday Baking 2010 Part 1: Cinnamon Star Cookies That Aren't Stars

I love Christmas Cookie baking.


Around about the beginning of November I start going through the Holiday magazines that are out and I search the Internet (primarily Martha Stewart and Food Network websites).

There are certain cookies I do every year: Peanut Blossoms, Peanut Butter Cup cookies (peanut butter cookie dough rolled into a ball and dropped into a mini muffin tin, take a mini peanut butter cup and press it into the dough and then bake 350 degrees 10-12 minutes), and snowball cookies. Then I pick a couple of new recipes to try out every year.

This year I got out the cookie gun again and decided to make Spritz Cookies. I found another recipe of potato chip spritz cookies that sounded good, but I had a problem with the dough in the cookie gun. It just oozed out of the disc and didn't hold the shape. I tried refrigerating the dough, but it didn't help. I think the potato chips made the dough too greasy. So, I rolled the dough into 1 inch balls and then flattened them a bit and baked them at 350 for 8 minutes. They were surprisingly good, like shortbread with a salty/sweet flavor.

Another recipe I found and decided to try is called Cinnamon Stars: Zimtsterne. They only have 5 ingredients and looked like something totally new and delicious.

This is what they're supposed to look like:


I followed the directions.

I ground the almonds, powdered sugar, and cinnamon together in the food processor:


I whipped the egg whites, added the powdered sugar, whipped them some more and then folded in the almond mixture and the lemon zest:


Then I turned the dough over onto parchment paper sprinkled with powdered sugar:


The next step was to roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out using a 3 inch star cookie cutter. That's where it went wrong. The dough was too soft and wouldn't hold the shape and it was impossible to lift off the parchment paper. It just didn't work.

But I wasn't giving up. Instead, I rolled the dough into a ball and flattened them slightly. Then I followed the rest of the recipe, spreading a small amount of the meringue on top and decorated with the sliced almonds:


I baked them at 250 for 30 minutes and then turned off the heat and opened the oven doors and allowed them to dry out.


I LOVE these cookies! Even if they aren't star shaped, they taste awesome and look pretty. The almonds and cinnamon are so delicious and the meringue makes these cookies light.

Regardless of the shape, I recommend making these cookies!