EVERYONE goes on about the palaver of the turkey come December 25, but some of the best festive cooking at this time of year is actually spent in the run up to the big day.
Making the Yule log, baking festive cookies and decorations to hang on the tree, mixing the Christmas cake or pudding – it’s these quiet, thoughtful moments, packed with tradition, that build the warm, cosy, cinnamon-scented aura of Christmas. And arguably, no one captures this better in bakes than the Germans.
Now food writer Anja Dunk, has collected together a whole slew of festive German bakes in her new cookbook, Advent. We grabbed some gluhwein and put three recipes to the test…
Prudence Wade tested: Jam-filled Lebkuchen hearts
As a lifelong lover of gingerbread, I jumped at the chance to make these jam-filled biscuits – and I’m glad I did, because it was worth it for the smell of the spices wafting through the house alone.
The process was a bit fiddlier than your average biscuit – you have to roll out the dough, cut heart shapes, blob jam in the middle and cover with a slightly bigger heart on top. My efforts weren’t the most finessed – as shown by bits of jam pouring out after baking – but it still tasted delicious.
Baking as a vegan is often pretty hit or miss, but this was a definite win – probably because few of the ingredients had to be changed, it was just subbing out the butter for a dairy-free alternative and using golden syrup instead of honey. The biscuits weren’t soft or crumbly like shortbread or cookie (that’s down to the rye flour) – but tasted more like gingerbread.
The recipe recommends a sharp, smooth jam so I bought some damson jelly to go in the middle, but in all honesty, I’m not sure I could’ve told the difference between that and regular strawberry or raspberry. Best yet, the biscuits tasted even better in the days after baking – good news, because I’m pretty sure I made enough to feed a small army. They might not be the most beautiful of bakes, but they definitely tick all the festive flavour boxes.
Lisa Salmon tested: Christmas spiced shortbread
If you’ve got a food processer, making these biscuits would be as easy as buying a packet and opening them – and a much tastier experience.
But if you’re like me and don’t have one, and if you can’t buy some of the (many) ingredients ready-ground, this recipe is rather time-consuming!
I couldn’t find any ground hazelnuts, star anise or cloves, so I had to ‘grind’ them myself, and with only a hand-held blender to help, it took ages. And then, instead of being able to just bung everything in a processor, there was rubbing the butter into the flour, and kneading (for another age, it seemed) to get the mixture together and pliable.
But I got there in the end, made sure my little sausages of cookie dough were far enough apart on the baking tray so they didn’t spread into each other in the oven, and was pleased with the final result.
The icing sugar glaze on the top was a really nice addition, and despite the huge number of spices in the mixture, the biscuits were subtly spiced and tasted pretty Christmassy. They’re worth making – but only if you’ve got a food processor!
Abi Jackson tested: Chocolate and ginger biscotti
I chose this recipe for two reasons. I like biscotti (and especially the sound of ginger and chocolate) plus I imagined they’d be relatively simple to make.
The first stage is certainly easy. All I need to do is weigh out flour, sugar, chopped almonds and candied ginger (hopefully crystallised ginger counts as the same thing, as that’s all the supermarket had) and bung it all in a mixing bowl, along with a pinch of sea salt, a teaspoon of baking powder and some chopped dark chocolate, which I break into pieces with my fingers. I give it all a good stir before adding in three eggs and mixing into a dough.
Next, I’m meant to spoon it onto a lined tray and create a log shape. My dough is very sloppy though, so my log instantly looks like it’s been through a mangle. I sprinkle demerara sugar on top as instructed then pop it in the oven, wondering whether I’ll end up with a biscotti pancake. The recipe says bake for 25-30 mins until golden, then you let it cool before slicing into individual biscotti and baking for another 25 mins to crisp them up. I sneak a peek halfway through and see my mangled log has already expanded to the edges of the baking tray. Eek!
Once out, I let it cool for half an hour before slicing it up. Thankfully, they hold their shapes nicely and my biscotti are actually looking promising. Back in the oven they go. Then, engrossed in a Netflix movie, I take my eye off the ball – and discover I’ve made a tray of giant burn-scotti. Not impressed.
I try them anyway. They’re certainly crisp, Despite the very scorched edges, there’s hints of ginger and the dashes of chocolate and sea salt are nice. I’ll definitely make them again (and keep a closer eye on the temperature and timings.)
ADVENT: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk is published by Quadrille, priced £25. Photography Anja Dunk. Available now. Below are three recipes for you to try at home...
CHRISTMAS SPICED SHORTBREAD
(Makes 80–100)
275g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
50g (¹?? cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
50g (½ cup minus 1tbsp) ground almonds (almond flour)
50g (½ cup minus 1tbsp) ground hazelnuts
250g (1 cup plus 2tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temp, cut into 2cm/¾in cubes
175g (¾ cup plus 2tbsp) soft light brown sugar
Pinch of fine sea salt
2tsp ground cinnamon
½tsp ground ginger
½tsp ground anise (or a drop of anise extract)
½tsp ground cloves
1tsp vanilla extract
2tbsp milk for the glaze
100g (scant ¾ cup) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted
25ml (scant 2tbsp) just boiled water
Method:
Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F and line two baking sheets with nonstick baking parchment. Put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat to a soft, pliable dough on a low speed for a couple of minutes. (If making by hand, put both flours, the ground almonds and ground hazelnuts into a large bowl, then work the butter in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix through the sugar, salt and spices. Add the vanilla extract and milk, and bring the dough together with your hands. Knead for three minutes until pliable.) If using a cookie press, select your preferred shape, then stuff the dough into the top. Hold the press over a prepared baking sheet and click the handle to release one cookie. Repeat this process, placing each cookie one centimetre apart to allow for spreading. If using the mincer method, choose the desired attachment and place your dough in the funnel. Crank the handle with one hand, holding the other hand just below the spout to support the dough as it comes out. When the dough protrudes by six centimetres, cut it off and place it on a baking sheet. Repeat this process, spacing the biscuits one centimetre apart, until both sheets are full. Bake for eight to 10 minutes until just golden. If you don’t have a mincer or cookie press and are making the biscuits by hand, take small, walnut-sized pieces of dough and roll them into sausage shapes around five centimetres long. Place them two centimetres apart on the sheets. Press a fork gently into the top edge of each biscuit and drag it down the length of the dough, flattening and lengthening it as you go. Bake as above, but allow at least 10 minutes (hand-formed biscuits tend to be thicker and so take longer to bake). While the biscuits are baking, put the icing sugar into a bowl, pour in the just-boiled water and mix vigorously until a glossy glaze forms. Allow the cooked biscuits to cool for a minute before transferring to a wire rack. Using a pastry brush, glaze each biscuit while still warm. Repeat the whole process again with any remaining dough. Store in an airtight container for up to four weeks.
CHOCOLATE AND GINGER BISCOTTI
(Makes about 30)
200g (1½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
1tsp baking powder
Pinch of fine sea salt
100g (½ cup) soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
50g (1¾oz) dark chocolate, roughly chopped
50g (1¾oz) almonds, chopped
75g (2½oz) candied ginger, chopped
1–2tbsp demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Method:
Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F and line a large baking sheet with nonstick baking parchment. Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl and stir them together with a wooden spoon until a dense, damp dough forms. Spoon the dough onto the lined sheet and shape into a log about 25 centimetres long and around eight to 10 centimetres in diameter. The dough is pretty tacky and so won’t look all that neat, but will even out in the oven. Sprinkle demerara over the top. Bake for 25–30 minutes until firm to the touch and just golden – it should be cooked through but not hard, more like a firm sponge in texture with a crisper outer edge. Transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely – this is important as the chocolate also needs to be cool before you cut the biscuits or they will end up being a streaky mess. Set the lined baking sheet aside, ready for the second bake, and reduce the oven temperature to 150°C/130°C fan/300°F. On a chopping board, and using a sharp serrated bread knife, cut the log into slices seven and a half millimetres thick. Arrange tightly on the lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, turning them all over halfway through, until crisp on both sides. Take out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Stored in an airtight container, these will keep for a month or more.
JAM-FILLED LEBKUCHEN HEARTS
(Makes about 20)
50g (6tbsp) unsalted butter
200g (½ cup plus 1½tbsp) runny honey
125g (1 cup minus ½tbsp) plain (allpurpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
125g (1 cup plus 2tbsp) rye flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tbsp Lebkuchengewürz spice mix (see below) or 1tsp ground ginger mixed with 1½tsp ground cinnamon and ½tsp ground cloves
Pinch of fine sea salt
25g (1oz) mixed peel, very finely chopped
For the filling:
80g (3oz) jam (jelly)
For the glaze:
6 tbsp icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted
1 tbsp just-boiled water
1½ tsp lemon juice
For the Lebkuchen spice mix: (makes about 8tbsp – mix all the ingredients thoroughly together in a bowl and store in an airtight jar for up to a year)
5tbsp ground cinnamon
1tbsp ground ginger
2tsp ground cloves
1tsp ground cardamom
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground anise
½tsp ground mace
Method:
Melt the butter and honey in a saucepan over a low heat for a few minutes, stirring until the butter has melted and is incorporated into the honey. Allow to cool. Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F. Put the dry ingredients and mixed peel into a bowl, pour over the honey mixture and stir everything together. When it becomes too difficult to stir, use your hands to bring the mixture together into a dough, then knead for a few minutes until smooth. Split the dough in half. Roll out one half on a lightly floured surface to around three millimetres thick. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out 10 hearts and place them on a large baking sheet (or two small), spaced about two centimetres apart. Spoon half a teaspoon of jam onto the centre of each heart. Now roll out the other half of the dough to the same thickness and cut out 10 more hearts. Roll over them again so that they become slightly larger and thinner (as they need to be domed over the jam). Dip your finger into a bowl of water and run it around the dough edge of the jam-covered hearts. Place the larger hearts on top and seal the edges by pressing round them lightly with your fingertips. Re-roll all the dough offcuts into more biscuits. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 12 minutes until slightly golden and firm to the touch, but not browned or hard. While the biscuits are baking, mix all the glaze ingredients together in a bowl to a smooth icing. Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack and, while still warm, brush the tops with the glaze. Allow to cool fully before transferring to an airtight container. They will keep well for a month.
