Traditional Christmas cookies with cinnamon

Ho, ho, ho! If you’ve been naughty this year, you’ll probably get no presents.

But nothing prevents your from having these delicious traditional Christmas cookies!!! 😀

They are very easy to make and they taste so… Christmassy!!! Just a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and anise can boost up the flavour of these cookies, but of course you can add all the spices and flavourings you want (e.g. ground ginger! That’s Christmassy as well)!

These Christmas cookies by Christophe Felder are not so different from a shortbread tart dough where the cold butter is mixed by hand with the dry ingredients to obtain a sandy mixture that is then moistened with eggs and kneaded just as needed.

They are “cut-out cookies“, so you can also have fun with all the cookie cutters you have (I have an Austrian friend who made cookies the shape of Austria!) 😛

P.S: this step-by-step recipe is for about 50 cookies… if you don’t want to eat them all, remember that they also make a perfect, tasty Christmas present!

Traditional Christmas cookies

Print recipe

Ingredients

250g	Pastry flour
125g	Granulated sugar
65g	Almond flour
125g	Unsalted butter
1/4	Orange zest
1/4	Lemon zest
1 teaspoon	Ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon	Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon	Ground anise
1	Egg
1	Egg yolk
1 teaspoon	Kirsch liqueur
1/2 pinch	Salt

Directions

Place the sifted flour, sugar, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, anise, the fruit zests and the cold, diced butter in a bowl

Work the ingredients quickly with the tip of your fingers until they are all mixed and of a sandy texture

Incorporate the eggs and the liqueur with your hands or (better) with a spatula

Try to make a ball and then knead twice by crushing the dough in small pieces with a dough-cutter or the palm of your hand. This will allow to give consistence to the dough without overkneading it.

Wrap in plastic, flatten and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

When the dough is cold, roll it out to a 4mm height on your slightly floured work surface. Cut the cookies in different shapes with cookie cutters or with a sharp knife...

... and place them in a buttered and floured pan.

Brush with eggwash (optional) and bake at 180° for 13-15 minutes

Note

You can make a ball of dough scraps and roll it out again to obtain more cookies but be careful because:

Overworking the dough will have a negative impact on the flakiness of the cookies (i.e. more gluten will develop so the cookies will be harder)
It might be necessary to store the dough for some more time in the fridge if the butter becomes too soft