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Zimtsterne - Christmas cinnamon stars

Mon, 19 October, 2020

⯆ JUMP TO RECIPE
Zimsterne, cinnamon stars, German Christmas biscuits are made from sugar, almonds, egg whites and cinnamon of course. Messy, finicky to cut and absolutely adorable.

christmas zimtsterne cuisinefiend.com

Christmas biscuits

The time of cinnamon and spice aka Christmas always brings plenty of biscuits. There are the spiced Lebkuchen, iced or dipped in chocolate. There are all kinds of shortbreads cut into Christmassy shapes: stars, trees, angels and Santas. There are mince pies and Danish butter biscuits, ginger snaps or sugar cookies, depending on wherever in the world you dwell.

german cinnamon stars cuisinefiend.com

What are Zimtsterne?

Zimtsterne or cinnamon stars are German Christmas biscuits. When I first heard of them I was convinced they were another incarnation of gingerbreads, like Lebkuchen or Pfeffernusse. Lovely and Christmassy, but nothing out of ordinary – except cut out in star shapes.

german christmas cookies cuisinefiend.com

How wrong was I?

Couldn’t be wronger. Of all Christmas biscuits I know (and I know a few), these are the loveliest. They are inaccurately named as cinnamon is just a bit player in those cookies. What they most resemble is glorious French macarons, or very soft dacquoise biscuits, something very French and dainty.

They are made of almonds and egg whites, just like macarons, dacquoise and the rest of that posh crowd. They are incredible in their texture: a little soft, a little chewy, a little melting in the mouth.

They are also very easy to make, up to a point.

zimtsterne biscuits cuisinefiend.com

How to make Zimtsterne?

The batter – dough – pastry, not sure what it is called – is a meringue to start with. Egg whites beaten to stiff peaks are followed by the awfully boring but effective procedure of adding in sugar by a spoonful. There is some fun involved here as it is icing sugar we add – if you don’t watch it, it will be merrily puffed all over the kitchen. Better cover your bowl with a tea towel while you mix with a hand mixer, or make sure the lid on the standing mixer is on.

When all the sugar is gone, you have shiny, beautiful meringue but due to icing sugar being used, it will be quite runny – that’s how it should be. Cleverly, some of that meringue is decanted to serve later as a glaze on the biscuits. More cleverly, the amount isn’t super prescriptive: roughly a quarter to a third, depending on whether you want a lavish topping or just to paint the biscuits white.

The dough (I think that’s what it is, finally) needs to rest and set in the fridge for half an hour or so, so it’s easier to roll out.

And that’s when things get messy.

traditional german cinnamon star biscuits cuisinefiend.com

How to cut the cinnamon stars?

The concept is great: star-shaped almond dough covered with a meringue topping, shiny white and gorgeous. The problem is how to cut it: if you cut out bases and try to spread meringue on each, it will take forever and the cover won’t be neat – basically a blob of white obscuring the star shape.

The other method is to cover the rolled out dough disc with meringue and then cut ready-glazed biscuits. That’s what I do but it means a/ washing the cutter every three seconds and b/ an awful lot of waste because you can’t re-roll the offcuts already covered with meringue.

Waste? What waste?

There is a silver lining to the latter method though. You cannot re-roll but you can bake the offcuts as they are for a pre-festive bonus for the chef, or indeed the chef’s cut if you’re baking these little things as a gift, which they are very suited for.

star biscuits offcuts are a bonus cuisinefiend.com

Zimtsterne cutter

The recipe is everywhere the same except perhaps the amount of meringue to set aside for glazing: some recipe writers prefer theirs thickly glazed, others go for less mess. I’ve consulted Lecker but exactly the same instructions were on the card that came with my Zimtsterne cutter.

zimtsterne cutter cuisinefiend.com

It’s an interesting thing actually, opening and closing like Pacman. The feature is supposed to help cutting and releasing the cookies but it’s still messy like the devil. If you want to cut them with an ordinary, closed biscuits cutter – I wish you bestest of luck.



Zimtsterne - Christmas cinnamon stars

Servings: makes about 50 starsTime: 2 hours plus drying

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 egg whites (about 100g)
  • a pinch of salt
  • 250g (2 cups) icing sugar plus more for dusting
  • 250g (2½ cups) ground almonds
  • 2 tsp cinnamon


METHOD

1. Beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt.

2. Sift the icing sugar. When the egg whites form stiff peaks, start adding the sugar by a tablespoon, beating at high speed. The meringue should be glossy but not very stiff.

meringue cuisinefiend.com

3. Remove about a third of the meringue for coating and place in the fridge.

glaze for zimtsterne cuisinefiend.com

4. Stir the cinnamon into the ground almonds and add to the remaining meringue; mix with a spatula to obtain thick dough. Chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to make rolling out easier.

almond dough cuisinefiend.com

5. Prepare two baking trays lined with parchment.

6. Dust the work surface with icing sugar. Roll out the dough to about 1 cm thick. Spread the reserved meringue over it not too thickly.

rolled out dough cuisinefiend.com

7. Using a zimtsterne cutter dipped in water, cut biscuits and transfer them onto the baking trays. It will be incredibly messy. If you prefer, cut the biscuits first and then brush them with the meringue coating but I found it very fussy.

cutting zimtsterne cuisinefiend.com

8. Don’t bin the offcuts! They will make the best bonus treat.

offcuts cuisinefiend.com

9. Leave the biscuits on the baking trays for 1-2 hours until the meringue is dry to touch. Preheat the oven to 125C fan, if available/275F/gas.

10. Bake the biscuits in the lower part of the oven for 15-20 minutes making sure they don’t colour too much on top. Cool on the wire rack.

11. Store the stars in a biscuit tin; they will keep for 2-3 weeks.


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Hello! I'm Anna Gaze, the Cuisine Fiend. Welcome to my recipe collection.

I have lots of recipes for you to choose from: healthy or indulgent, easy or more challenging, quick or involved - but always tasty.


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