Dark and Moist Fruitcake

My version of a traditional fruitcake, with anything I thought would taste particularly good added in. I found that it was the best after about 9 weeks of aging, so plan ahead, and be prepared to buy a lot of alcohol! The basting really helps make it moist and makes the flavour complex. To stick with a dark colour theme (to complement my "light" fruitcake) I used dark rum, coffee liquor, molasses, brown sugar, and lots of figs and dates. And for a bit of crunch, some walnuts!

You can use different dried fruits, and next time I make this cake I think I'll add more, including some dried apricots and cherries. Still, this cake turned out really well! It was especially popular, I think, because of the copious amounts of coffee liquor that complemented the taste of the molasses and spices really well. I suspect that, if you wanted to try something really unorthodox, you could eat it with soft cheese... something I plan to try myself.

Dark Fruitcake
adapted from chowhound

3 Eggs
3/4 C. Butter (About 170g)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Cocoa
1 1/2 C. Flour
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1/2 Tsp. Each cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
Zest of one lemon and one orange
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Dark brown sugar
1/4 C. Molasses
2 TBSP. Apricot jam, smooth
1 C. Dates
1 C. Figs
1 1/2 C. Mixed golden and dark raisins
1 C. Walnut pieces
1/2 C. Mixed diced peel
1/3 C. Currants
1/2 C. Dark spiced rum
1/4 C. Brandy (I used apricot brandy)

To Baste:
A generous amount each of dark spiced rum, (apricot) brandy and coffee liquor

Soak snipped fruits in rum 2-5 days in advance.

Prepare two 9'' loaf pans with butter and baking parchment.

Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
Beat the butter, sugar and molasses together until smooth. Add the vanilla, jam, zest and molasses. Beat in the eggs and mix until homogeneous.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Next, add the fruit and nuts and stir in until well-mixed.

Bake at 160℃ for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool before removing from pans and brushing with a mixture of the basting alcohols.

Wrap up in alcohol-soaked cheesecloth and plastic wrap and let ripen for 6-9 weeks in a cool well-ventilated place, unwrapping and brushing with the basting alcohol about once a week. If you check on them and they're already very moist with alcohol (this occurred after 4 weeks of the basting process for me) you can leave them be.

Serve on its own or covered in marzipan once ripe.

Vanillekipferl

Kipferl in the foreground, walnut cookies in the back.

There are a lot of names for this cookie, and a lot of variations- some use eggs and some don't, some use almonds and some hazelnuts, some are rolled in powder sugar and some just lightly dusted. Though they are well-known in the Christmas baking repertoires of many nations, I know them as Haselnusskipferl because as far as my Mum is concerned, they've got to be made with hazelnuts.

To make them extra special and Christmas-worthy, use really good hazelnuts or hazelnut flour, good butter, and real vanilla extract or naturally-flavoured sugar. Don't skimp out! These are supposed to be a highlight of the holidays, after all. The other cookies in the pictures above, made with walnuts, will also be posted- at least, in time for next Christmas...

Haselnusskipferl
From chefkoch.de

560 g. All purpose flour
200 g. Ground hazelnuts (I used hazelnut flour)
2 Tsp. Vanilla extract, or 2 sachets of vanilla sugar
120 g. Sugar
1/2 Tsp. Salt
400 g. Butter, unsalted
About 1/3 C. Powder sugar

Cream butter and sugar, and add vanilla or vanilla sugar. Mix in the ground nuts and sift in the flour. Chill in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut into small pieces (about the size of large olives) and roll into logs, then bend to form crescents and place onto baking parchment.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until slightly browned.

Let cool completely before removing from the baking pan and dusting with powder sugar.

Rosinenbrötchen mit Quark- Raisin Buns with Quark + Stollen-Brötchen

Plain buns on the left and raisined ones on the right.

In the long list of bread and bun recipes I'm finally getting around to posting, here's one of my favourites- soft, moist, rich raisin buns enriched with fresh cheese. You can use the quark recipe I've posted, or some farmer's cheese that's been processed well in a food processor with some extra butter. 

Many flavours work well in this dough, though I kept it simple- you can add some spices, some citrus zest or use a different dried fruit like cranberries or currants. You can even omit the fruit entirely (I did this with half because not everyone in my family appreciates the deliciousness of dried fruit...). These are one of the things I love to make for important holidays like Christmas and Easter as part of the breakfast menu, but I also love to freeze leftovers to eat later on... they're especially good with butter and jam, but are also delicious on their own. The "Stollen" version I give makes a nice off-season treat when you crave the flavours of Stollen but Christmas is still far off.

Rosinenbrötchen mit Quark
From ketex.de

For the Sponge:
200 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
150 g. Milk, 2 to 3.8%
20 g. Fresh yeast, or 2 1/4 Tsp. active dry yeast

Mix all well and let rest, covered, for 45 minutes in a warm place.

For the Final dough:
Sponge
300 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
100 g. Butter, at room temperature
50 g. Sugar
100 g. Topfenquark (20% m.f.), or well-ground 12% twarog/farmer's cheese plus 25 g. butter (You can double this quantity for a moister, denser dough- just add about 5 minutes baking time)
8 g. Salt
2 Egg yolks
175 g. Raisins, light or dark
1 TBSP Diastatic malt powder, or honey

beaten egg yolk, condensed milk, cream or melted butter, to brush
Pearl sugar (optional)

Mix all but the butter and raisins and knead until smooth. Add the butter in small pieces and continue kneading until it's incorporated. Add the raisins and once they're evenly distributed, cover the dough and let rise in a greased bowl for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180℃. Form into buns of the desired size (about a dozen works best) and cover. Let rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

Brush with the desired topping. Sprinkle with pearl sugar, if you like. Bake the buns for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

For "Stollen-Brötchen":

Add a pinch of saffron to the milk in the sponge and heat until steaming. Let infuse 30 minutes before using.

To the above recipe, substitute a mixture of 100 g. sultanas and raisins, 25 g. chopped orange peel, 25 g. chopped citron peel and 50 g. currants. In addition, add:

1 Sachet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
Zest of one lemon
1/2 Tsp. Mace
1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tsp. Cardamom
75 g. Chopped or slivered blanched almonds

To the dough; the spices and sugar in the first steps in making the final dough, and the almonds along with the fruit mixture.

Top the buns with melted butter and pearl sugar.

Sour Cream Easter Bread With Honey-Walnut Filling

This year I decided to combine the shape of a babka and the taste of a twisted, nut-filled Hefezopf for easter by making a huge round Easter bread rolled up with a walnut-honey-cinnamon filling. It straddles the line between a cake and a bread, but in any case it's incredibly good and definitely making a comeback during future holidays.

The nut filling is mildly sweet and spiced, and complements the aromatic, yeasty dough well. It's very moist when fresh thanks to the sour cream and oil, but tastes fantastic even when dried out.

You don't need to use the nut filling- or any filling at all. This dough would also probably taste good with an almond, chocolate or poppy swirl, or you could just add some raisins and/or nuts to the dough. You could even make it plain, perhaps adding a bit of lemon or orange zest in that case.

No matter what else is used, this is a champion amongst sweet yeast doughs!

Sour Cream Easter Bread
From Angellovescooking

For Dough:
3 Eggs and 1 yolk
200 g. Sour cream
150 g. Sugar
60 g. Butter, melted
40 g. Neutral or walnut oil
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp. Rum extract or 1 TBSP rum, optional
1/2 TBSP Lemon juice
30 g. Fresh yeast, or 10 g. Active dry yeast
650 g. Bread flour, sifted

Butter and sugar, for the mold

Find a mold for the bread- a large kugelhopf mold, bundt mold or other loaf pan. Grease with butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Mix sour cream and yeast to dissolve. Add eggs and yolk, sugar, vanilla, rum and lemon juice.

Whisk together the salt and flour. Add the above wet mixture and knead until smooth. Add salt, oil and butter and knead until well incorporated.

Let rise for 1 hour to 90 minutes, or until doubled, in an oiled covered bowl.

Divide dough into 3 pieces. Spread each with filling and roll up, then twist and the whole twist in half. Place each piece into the kugelhopf or other bread mold to fill it up, then cover and let rise another 1 hour-90 minutes.

Bake at 180℃ for 45-50 minutes, covering with aluminium foil if it browns too quickly.

For the Filling:
200 g. Walnuts
150 g. Honey, liquid
1-2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 TBSP Rum
1 Egg white, lightly beaten

Grind nuts in a food processor until some coarse bits remain, but most are smooth. Add honey, cinnamon, rum and egg white and mix well.

Hot Cross Buns

While not traditional for my family, hot cross buns are very popular in the area where I live- so they make a guest appearance at the easter table. Some are more breadlike and some are more sweet with crosses made of icing, so mine are a kind of intermediate that's not too sweet, uses a pastry cross, and has lots of spices, orange zest and currants. 

I glazed mine with an Azerbaijani white cherry jam, but any light-coloured jam can be used. you can also skip the crosses and just make these any-occasion buns. I imagine they'd make really good bread pudding. 

Hot Cross Buns
Adapted from I Love Bake

500 g. Bread flour
1 1/2 Tsp. Gingerbread spices
1 Tsp. Salt
75 g. Demerara or regular sugar
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 2 1/4 Tsp. Active dry yeast
300 ml. Milk
50 g. Butter
1 Egg
Zest of 1 orange
1 TBSP Oil
50 g. Candied orange peel
80 g. Currants

For the Pastry Crosses:
1/2 C. Water
75 g. Flour

Apricot jam or marmalade, to glaze (optional)

Sift together flour, salt, spices and add sugar.

Bring milk to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add butter to melt. Add orange zest and let cool until lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in milk mixture and add to the flour mixture, along with the egg and oil. Knead until smooth, then add currants and peel and knead until well incorporated. Let rise in a covered, greased bowl for 1 hour.

Divide into 12-15 round balls. Shape into buns and cover. Let rise 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200℃.

Mix pastry cross ingredients well with a fork and pour into a pastry bag with the tip cut off. Pipe the mixture in a cross shape onto each bun.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Glaze with warmed jam or marmalade, if desired.

Rolled Sugar Cookies

These cookies are great for holidays for many reasons. For one, they're easy to make the dough for in little time using a food processor or stand mixer. You can also make the dough far ahead of time and freeze it for later, thawing it in the fridge overnight. It's easy to roll out and cut shapes that hold after baking, and they taste good with all manner of decorations- I used both chocolate and sanding sugar with icing (those got eaten before pictures were taken). Be careful not to overbake these, as they're done before they go brown, and need to cool on the sheet to set.

Rolled Sugar Cookies 
From chefkoch.de

500 g. Flour
250 g. Butter
250 g. Sugar
1 Packet (2 1/4 Tsp.) Baking powder
1 Egg
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
Dash of lemon extract, optional

Mix dry ingredients. In a food processor or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add the remaining ingredients and mix until homogenous. Wrap dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Roll out dough between sheets of baking parchment and cut into desired shapes. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180℃.

Nusskipferl I and II

Nusskipferl I, in the middle, and II around the perimeter.

These crescent-shaped nut cookies are probably the most essential Christmas cookie of all- and for good reason. Not only are they pretty with their curvy shape and coat of powder sugar, but they're buttery and nutty with a soft, crumbly texture. I tried two different recipes as an experiment, and I honestly can't choose a favourite. The recipe without eggs is a little more like a classic shortbread and is a bit simpler, but the one with yolks is easier to work with and holds its shape better when baked. You can use almonds or hazelnuts, but in my family they'd be unthinkable without at least some of the latter. I made one batch with Bourbon-vanilla sugar, and one with a hint of cinnamon- both flavours are highly complementary to the hazelnut. Try one, or the other, or both, Christmas or not.

Nusskipferl I
From chefkoch.de

560 g. Flour
160 g. Sugar
400 g. Butter, cold
200 g. Ground hazelnuts
1 Packet of vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade

about 1/4 C. Powdered sugar and one additional packet/tablespoon of vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Cut the butter into small cubes. In a food processor, or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix all of the ingredients until homogeneous. Wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Cut the dough into small pieces. For each piece, roll with the palm of your hand to form a log, then curve it to form a crescent shape. Press down lightly. Repeat until all the dough is used.

On a baking sheet with parchment, bake the crescents for about 12-15 minutes depending on size, or until the bottoms are just beginning to brown.

Allow the cookies to cool and set. Mix the powdered sugar and remaining vanilla sugar and use a sifter to dust the cookies.

Nusskipferl II
Adapted from Dr.Oetker: Backen Macht Freude

250 g. Flour
1/4 Tsp. Baking powder
Pinch of salt
125 g. Sugar
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
3 Egg yolks
200 g. Cold butter
150 g. Ground hazelnuts, almonds, or a mix
2 Tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 C. Powder sugar and 1 Tsp. Cinnamon, to dust

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a food processor or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add the ground nuts and sugar. Add the butter in small pieces and mix until crumbly. Add the egg yolks.

Once a homogenous dough forms, wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180℃. Shape the dough into small crescents and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly brown. Let cool before sprinkling with the powder sugar and remaining cinnamon through a sieve.

Sour Cream Jam Cookies

You see those ugly things on the right? The ones that aren't even stuck together properly, oozing jam and plain as anything? They're fantastic.

Their not-so-attractive exterior belies their deliciousness, meaning that there's a reward for those who don't judge a book by its cover and get all the deliciousness to themselves. Mind you, they can be very pretty if you make them that way- You can roll up the dough with the filling inside to make swirls, or make sandwiches with two pieces of dough and a pretty cut-out design. You can use powder sugar or raw sugar as a garnish, an egg glaze, whatever. But the bottom line is, they're delicious no matter what.

I like the taste of the sour cream dough with fruity jams, but it also goes very well with some other combinations I've tried, such as:

• 1/4 C. Nougat plus  TBSP ground poppyseed, well mixed and spread on before rolling the dough from either end to the centre and slicing to create poppy-nougat palmiers

• 1/4 C. Grated bittersweet chocolate, 1 TBSP cocoa, 2 TBSP sugar and 1 Tsp. cinnamon, sprinkled onto the rolled-out dough and rolled up into a log, then sliced thinly to form chocolate-cinnamon spirals

• Your favourite marmalade, plus powdered sugar on folded-over half-moon pastries

And so on. The dough isn't hard to make, though the folding and chilling takes some time, but is well worth the flakiness of the final product. Make sure you preheat the oven! You'll lose layers of flakiness if you let the cookies in when it's not hot enough (as I did in the above batch- their sequels made from leftover dough at the proper temperature were much prettier, I'll have you know). 

Sour Cream Jam Cookies
Adapted from about.com

3 C. All purpose flour
1 C. Butter, cold
1/4 C. Vanilla sugar, or regular sugar plus 2 Tsp. Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 C. Sour cream, preferably 18%
About 1 C. Jam, any kind, or another filling (I used strawberry jam)
Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 210℃.

Mix the flour, sugar and salt. In a food processor or with a dough cutter, incorporate the butter until the mixture is crumbly and gravel-like. Add the sour cream and mix until a homogenous mass forms. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and fold in half. Press down flat, rotate 90 degrees and fold in half again. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes. 

Repeat the dough folding above one more time. Roll out the dough again on a floured surface and cut into circles. Add a teaspoon of jam or other filling to the centre of each and press together the edges of the circle to form a small "package". Refrigerate for about 15 minutes once all are finished.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly brown.  Let cool completely, then dust with powder sugar if desired, or leave plain. 

Spekulatius Biscuits

It's good to have spekulatius biscuits on hand, not only because they're delicious on their own, but also because they're the type of crisp, crumbly biscuit that makes ideal crumb crusts and crunchy garnishes when crushed. You can easily buy them in most big supermarkets, but I find that they almost always lack the spicy element, tasting more like regular digestive biscuits than spice cookies. So, I made some of my own as an experiment, and was pleased to find that they were both delicious as tea biscuits and as a crumb base for tarts. They also go well with ice cream, as a substitute for graham crackers in s'mores, and anywhere else you want a spicy, snappy cookie. 

Spekulatius Biscuits
Adapted from Moje Wypieki

250 g. Flour, all purpose
1/8 Tsp. Baking powder
140 g. Muscovado (light brown) sugar, or 2/3 dark brown and 1/3 white sugar
150 g. Butter, cold (substituting half of this with vegetable oil makes a less flavourful but crisper biscuit more similar to the store-bought ones)
1 1/2 Tsp. Spekulatius spices (1/2 Tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 Tsp. ginger, 1/4 Tsp. cloves, 1/8 Tsp. nutmeg, 1/8 Tsp. mace, 1/8 Tsp. cardamom, pinch each of white pepper, coriander and anise)
60 ml. Milk, cold
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla extract, optional
Pinch of salt
Demerara sugar or almond slivers to sprinkle (optional)

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, spices and salt. In a food processor or mixer, add butter/oil and milk and mix until cohesive.

Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 4 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 170℃.

Roll out thinly (about 4 mm) between two sheets of baking parchment and stamp with cookie cutters in preferred shapes. Add any sugar or almonds onto the top if desired.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool well and store in an airtight container.

Butterplätzchen- Rolled Butter Cookies

Cookies designated for decorating often sacrifice taste in exchange for physical durability and ability to hold shape, but these ones manage to be extremely attractive and delicious. They're high in butter and lightly flavoured with vanilla and lemon, and the dough is easy to work with and cut. They last a long time, and go well with a variety of toppings- I used dark and white chocolate, along with sprinkles, nonpareils, candied cherries and nuts. 

I would consider these christmas cookies, but they can also be used for any other occasion where you want decorative cookies, like Easter or Halloween... or for no holiday whatsoever. After all, they're universally fantastic.

Butterplätzchen/Rolled Butter Cookies
From chefkoch.de

500 g. Flour
200 g. Sugar
350 g. Butter
1 Egg plus 1 yolk
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
Pinch of Salt

Mix dry ingredients. In a food processor or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add the remaining ingredients and mix until homogenous. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Roll out dough between sheets of baking parchment and cut into desired shapes. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180℃.

Spitzbuben/Jam Sandwich Cookies

This is the ideal jam sandwich cookie. The almond and lemon flavours go perfectly with slightly tart raspberry jam, the texture is soft and just crumbly enough, they hold their shape well so that they look pretty, and are easy to make. A jam cookie runs the risk of being too sweet or getting soggy over time, but these are perfectly balanced. And you can have fun with the shape of the cut-outs, too...

Spitzbuben
From chefkoch.de

300 g. Flour
100 g. Ground almonds
150 g. Powder sugar
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
200 g. Butter
1 Egg
1/2 Tsp. Almond extract
Zest of one lemon

200 g. Raspberry or red currant jam
Powdered sugar

Mix dry ingredients. In a food processor or stand mixer, add the butter in small pieces, along with the egg, lemon zest, vanilla sugar and almond extract. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Divide dough into 2 pieces and roll out on a floured surface. Cut into circles, and for half of the circles, make a smaller cut-out window. 

Bake at 180℃ for 10-12 minutes, or until just beginning to brown on the bottoms. Let cool on the sheet.

On the whole halves, add about a teaspoon of jam to each cookie. Place a cut-out cookie on top. When finished with all the cookies, sprinkle some powder sugar on top.

Food For The Gods/Date and Walnut Bars

Since this was my year to take charge of Christmas baking almost singlehandedly, I decided to add a bunch of new sweets that weren't traditional in my family. I was especially eager to try out things that didn't come from Europe, so these Filipino bars fit the bill perfectly. They didn't require any expensive or rare ingredients, were fast and easy to make, and had some of my favourite ingredients- medjool dates and walnuts. I made a batch on the side of everything else, and was somewhat blown away.

I thought that they'd be good- but how good, I couldn't have guessed by the ingredients list alone. I thought that the dough sounded like a variation on the typical chocolate-chip cookie dough, but not so- the large amount  of brown sugar and small amount of flour, along with the butter and long, slow baking time, results in a chewy, soft, butterscotch-type bar that seems like an intermediate between candy and a blonde brownie. The walnuts were also slowly roasted because of the long low-temperature baking process, giving them an additional boost of flavour with no extra effort. Along with the moist, sweet tidbits of date, these bars have undoubtably earned their name and a permanent place on the Christmas cookie plate.

The dough would also probably go well with some other things, like pecans, shredded coconut, or chocolate. Because they're both so easy and so delicious, I'll be trying out variations year-round.

Food For The Gods
From Junblog

1 C. Flour
1 Tsp. Baking powder
1/4 Tsp. Salt
2 Eggs
1 1/2 C. Brown sugar
1 C. (227 g.) Butter, melted
1 C. Chopped walnuts
1 C. Chopped pitted dates (preferably medjool)
1 Tsp. Vanilla, optional

Preheat oven to 160℃. Grease a 9''x13'' pan, and line with buttered baking parchment. 

Mix dry ingredients with a whisk. Separately, mix the wet ingredients. Add the dry to the wet, along with the dates and walnuts, until well incorporated. Spread in pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Cut into small rectangles or squares with a sharp knife.

Gingerbread Trifecta- Croatian Medenjaci, German Lebkuchen and American Gingerbread

Medenjaci(top) and Lebkuchen (bottom) with royal icing.

My family has never made gingerbread cookies for Christmas traditionally, so I took it upon myself to try some recipes out and evade having to buy them for relatively high prices from local bakeries (or in the case of honey-based gingerbread, not being able to buy them at all). These cookies are great because they last ages without losing their flavour or texture, are easy to roll out and cut (provided you use enough flour and some baking parchment) and are great fun to decorate. We used two types of frosting, the regular decorative royal icing and also the more "American" icing made with shortening. Both work well for gluing sprinkles, candies, and other tidbits.

American gingerbread with the thicker, soft frosting.

Each kind has its distinct advantages. The medenjaci had a milder gingerbread flavour while still being well-spiced, and could easily be made any time of year (then again, there's no law against off-season Christmas baking...). Its ingredients are also more accessible than many other honey-gingerbreads for Canada. 

While the lebkuchen requires natron (hard to come by in Canada), lebkuchen spices (which one can make themselves using an online recipe- I used some from my grandmother) and white rye flour (available in Eastern European stores and some health foods stores), it's well worth the effort to gather the ingredients if you can- it's got a unique flavour and makes great ornamental cookies- and it's eggless, and can even be made vegan if shortening is used. 

The American gingerbread is also as good as any I've ever bought, and is different from the other two due to both the higher fat content and use of molasses. I would say that every one of the recipes was a keeper.

Medenjaci- Croatian Gingerbread
Adapted from Tara's Multicultural Table

3 C. All-purpose flour
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1/8 Tsp. Baking soda
2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Ginger
1/4 Tsp. Cloves
1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/8 Tsp. Mace
Pinch each of coriander, white pepper and cardamom
1/2 C. Butter
1/2 C. Sugar
2/3 C. Honey, preferably wildflower
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1 Egg

Sift together the flour, spices, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add honey, vanilla and egg. Incorporate the dry ingredients in spoonfuls until all is added. Once smooth, wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180℃. Roll out between sheets of baking parchment or plastic clingfilm until thin and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Bake for 10 minutes on parchment. Let cool for 15 minutes.

Lebkuchen
From Chefkoch.de

400 g. Honey, preferably wildflower
100 g. Water
100 g. Light brown sugar
60 g. Clarified butter, or shortening
300 g. All purpose or type 550 flour
300 g. White rye flour
6 g. Baking powder
1 Packet Lebkuchen spices
16 g. Natron

In a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, heat together the honey, water and brown sugar until homogenous. Add butter/shortening and allow to dissolve. Let cool to room temperature.

Sift together dry ingredients and add the wet ones. Knead until a homogenous mass forms and refrigerate 6 hours, or overnight.

On a well-floured surface, roll out dough and cut into shapes. Bake at 180℃ about 15 minutes, or until just beginning to brown at the edges.

American Molasses Gingerbread
Adapted from Moje Wypieki

750 g. All purpose flour
15 g. Baking powder
5 g. Ginger
3 g. Nutmeg
2 g. Cloves
2 g. Cinnamon
2 g. Allspice
1 g. White pepper
113 g. Butter
113 g. Shortening
235 ml. Molasses
180 g. Brown sugar
120 ml. Water
1 Egg
2 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 Tsp. Salt

Mix dry ingredients. Heat together the sugar, water, and molasses until dissolved in a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl. Add the butter and shortening and allow to dissolve. Let cool.

Add to dry ingredients along with egg and vanilla, and mix until homogenous. Refrigerate 6 hours, or overnight.

Roll out on a well-floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake at 180℃ for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool and harden on sheets before removal.

Royal Icing:
1 Egg white
2/3 C. Powder sugar
Pinch of salt
1 Tsp. Lemon juice

Beat all at high speed until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Soft Piped Icing:
1 1/3 C. Powdered sugar
3 TBSP Shortening
1 Tsp. Vanilla
About 1 TBSP milk

Beat all at high speed until smooth, adding just enough milk to achieve a pipable consistency.

Makowiec- Poppyseed Roll

Now that Christmas is long over, and I've had plenty of time to consider the champions of the recipes I've tested, I can safely say that this is one of my favourites. It's not as pretty as a store-bought makowiec, but admittedly that's mostly due to my sloppiness. But- the dough! Definitely my favourite dough for a poppyseed cake. It's soft, moist, and tender. It's got a nice yellow colour, and holds up well against the poppyseed filling. With my favourite poppyseed mixture inside and a bit of powdered sugar on top, this is probably tied for my favourite holiday baked good, along with my new champion-of-all-stollens.

Makowiec
For the Dough:
Adapted from About.com

30 g. Fresh yeast
1/4 C. Warm water
2 1/4 C. Type 550 or all-purpose flour
1.4 C. (55 g.) Butter
1/4 C. Sugar
1 Egg and 1 Yolk
1/4 C. Sour Cream
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
Zest of 1/2 a lemon

Dissolve yeast in water. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Mix egg, yolk, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and sour cream. Add yeast mixture and flour and mix with a dough hook until smooth.

Add the butter, in small pieces, until all is incorporated. Mix the dough until smooth.

Let the dough rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled.

For Filling:
200 g. Ground poppyseed
About 1/2 C. Milk
1/4 C. Sugar
2 TBSP Honey
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 TBSP Rum
 Zest of 1/2 a lemon
2 TBSP Butter
1/4 C. Sultanas
1/4 C. Walnut pieces
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon (optional)

To Finish:
1 Egg white, beaten
Powder sugar, to dust

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until steaming, then remove from heat and let cool. Add enough liquid so that it has the consistency of a thick paste.

Once dough has risen, punch down and roll out into a large rectangle. Brush the rectangle with beaten egg white. Spread the centre with the poppyseed filling, avoiding the edges.

Roll up the dough and tuck the edges under the loaf. Proof, covered, for about 20 minutes.

Brush with the remainder of the egg white. Bake for about 45-55 minutes at 180℃, covering with foil if it browns too quickly.

Let cool and dust with powder sugar.

Quarkstollen

This is a really great way to get a nice-tasting stollen when you don't have time to let it rest for the usual 3-4 weeks- for instance, when you're craving stollen out of season, or need to make another at the last minute. While it doesn't have quite the same texture as a yeast stollen, it's still tender and tasty, especially when spices are added. Keep in mind that it doesn't last as long as regular stollen in terms of freshness, so consume soon after baking!

Quarkstollen
Adapted from allrecipes.de

For the Fruits and Nuts:
200 g. Light and dark raisins, mixed
50 g. Candied orange peel, diced
50 g. Candied citron peel, diced
125 g. Chopped/slivered almonds
About 1/4 - 1/3 C. Dark rum, preferably spiced

Cover fruit and nuts in rum and soak overnight.

Final Dough:
500 g. All purpose flour
2 1/4 Tsp. Baking powder
Pinch of salt
100 g. Sugar
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
200 g. Butter
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
6 Drops (about 1/4 tsp.) Bitter almond extract
1 Packet of stollen spices, or 1/2 Tsp. each nutmeg, mace and cardamom (optional)
2-3 TBSP Rum or milk
Zest of one lemon
250 g. Quark (I used homemade)

To Finish:
50 g. Butter, melted
1 Sachet vanilla sugar or 1 TBSP homemade
50-100 g. Powder sugar

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Beat butter and add quark. Add the lemon zest, bitter almond extract, and sugars. Incorporate the eggs. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt before adding.

Mix in the fruits and nuts. Add enough rum or milk to make the dough rollable and soft. 

Shape into two loaves and bake for about an hour, covering with aluminium foil if browning too fast. 

Let cool and brush with butter. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar and thoroughly cover in powder sugar. Wrap up in aluminium foil and let rest overnight before cutting and eating.