German cinnamon star cookies
Most European countries have their own traditional Christmas cakes and cookies. In Germany after Stollen spiced hazelnut or almond cookies, calledZimtserne, are the most popular treats. These German cinnamon star cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free and flourless so are suitable for those with certain food allergies and intolerances. Wrapped nicely, they also make a lovely Christmas gift to friends, colleagues, teachers etc. I prefer the cookies made with roughly ground hazelnuts, but you can use ground almond if you don’t have any hazelnut.
Ingredients
Method
- Heat the oven to 120°C.
- Mix the ground hazelnuts, cinnamon, cloves and lemon zest in a bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and vanilla essence until stiff peaks form, then gently sift in the icing sugar and combine. Set aside 4 Tbsp of the foam, then add the rest to the hazelnut mixture. Mix well until you get a pliable dough.
- Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 5mm. Remove the top baking paper and stamp out star shapes, using a cookie cutter.
- Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchments paper and brush on the reserved egg white in a thin layer. Bake for 15 minutes on the lower shelf in your oven (otherwise the egg white might burn).
- Lower the oven temperature to 100°C and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the cookies are cooked through.
- Let the cookies cool on a wire rack, then store them in an airtight container.