Swiss Recipes: Sweets and Cookies

Traditional Swiss Christmas Cookies

Zimtsterne [Cinnamon Stars]

Ingredients (dough)

• 500 g [18 ounces] sugar (granulated)
• 500 g [18 ounces] ground almonds
• 5 egg white
• 1 spoon cinnamon (powder)

Preparation

Mix almonds and cinnamon to make sure the cinnamon is equally distributed. Whip egg-whites and sugar (for 10 minutes with a mixer, for 30 minutes by hand), then add ground almonds with cinnamon and knead dough a little.

Prepare a bed of sugar or sugar mixed with ground almonds to roll the dough. Thickness: approx. 0.5 cm [1/5"]

Use a small baking-mould to prick out the cookies from the dough. In Switzerland, star-shaped baking-moulds with a diameter of approx. 5cm [2"] are used traditionally. If you use moulds with sharp edges, you have to clean them with a little water after pricking out a few cookies, because the dough is quite sticky.

Place the cookies on a griddle covered with a special foil so they don't stick to the griddle. If you can't find those modern heat-resistant paper-like foils especially designed to separate sticky dough from the griddle, you may use aluminium foil or the traditional method: grease the griddle. Let the cookies dry for about 2 hours.

Bake the cookies for about 10 - 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 150° C [300 ° F]. Duration depends on thickness of the cookies. The cookies should not become brown, they should stay pale, the outside must be crusty, but they are best when still a little bit wet inside. Apply the icing with a brush after the cookies are sorted from the oven.

Ingredients (icing)

• 200 g [7 ounces] sugar (powder)
• 1/2 spoon lemon-juice or
  1 spoon kirsch [cherry brandy]
• 2-3 spoons water

Sift the sugar to make sure it does not cluster, add fluids and mix with a teaspoon in a small bowl until you get a sticky icing.

Basler Brunsli [Brownies from Basel]

Ingredients

• 500 g [18 ounces] sugar
• 500 g [18 ounces] ground almonds
• 2 knife points of cinnamon
• 4 egg white
• 200 grams [7 ounces] of dark chocolate
• 1 spoon of kirsch [cherry brandy]

Preparation

Mix almonds, sugar and cinnamon to make sure the cinnamon is equally distributed. Whip egg-whites until it's very stiff and carefully combine with the almonds / sugar / cinnamon. Then add melted chocolate and knead dough carefully (not too much) until everything is equally distributed.

To melt the chocolate, cut it into small peaces (5 mm [1/5"]), fill them into a cup and place the cup in a pan with hot water (almost boiling) for a few minutes. Do not add hot water to the chocolate to melt it, because adding any extra fluid in the dough will pose major problems later ...

Prepare a bed of sugar or sugar mixed with ground almonds to roll the dough. Thickness: approx. 0.5 cm [1/5"]

Use a small baking-mould to prick out the cookies from the dough. In Switzerland, flower-shaped baking-moulds with a diameter of approx. 5cm [2"] are used traditionally for Brunsli. See photo of perfect Brunsli (by Gabriela). If you use moulds with sharp edges, you have to clean them with a little water after pricking out a few cookies, because the dough is quite sticky.

Place the cookies on a griddle covered with a special foil so they don't stick to the griddle. If you can't find those modern heat-resistant paper-like foils especially designed to separate sticky dough from the griddle, you may use aluminium foil or the traditional method: grease the griddle. Let the cookies dry over night in a cold place (refrigirator or similar temparature).

Bake the cookies for about 5 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 220° C [430 ° F]. Duration depends on thickness of the cookies. The cookies should not become too dark, and they are best when still a little bit wet inside. If the dough is too wet, these cookies tend to expand abnormally, you can still eat them but the don't look too nice anymore. So leave enough free space between them when trying for the first time. Using large eggs and/or adding some extra almonds might solve this problem.

Ground Almonds and Hazelnuts

These cookie recipes demand for almonds ground down to a size of approximately 1 cubic millimeter [1/25 inch], but not for almond flour (powder). Traditionally full-size almond nuts were ground at home, but today you may find ground almonds and hazelnuts in supermarkets.