Zimtsterne cookies

Zimtsterne cookies are a traditional Christmas and Advent treat that is offered to guests in Germany. They are a sort of almond short bread, very taste and get there name from their shape,  Zimt means cinnamon and sterne stars. They are rolled and cut into star shapes and are traditionally topped with white sugared icing.

You will need

3 egg whites

500g/1ld caster sugar

225g/7½oz Ground Almonds

The zest of 1 lemon

2tsp Cinnamon

sugar and flour for rolling out

sliced almonds

6 marachino cherries

Whisk your egg whites until you have stiff peaks then add the sugar a little at a time to make a sort of merengue. Remove about 80g or 3oz to top the cookies when they are finished.  Now add to the rest of the egg whites in the blow the ground almonds, lemon zest, cinnamon and gently mix this in to form a dough.

Use a mix of flour and icing sugar on the work surface to roll out the cookies. You need to roll them out to about 1cm to ¼ inch thickness.  Use a star shaped cutter to cut them in to shape then remove any of the excess dough to re roll latter. Then sue a pallet knife to pick them up an place them on a lined baking tray.

Now brush the left over egg mix on top of the cookies so you get a thin layer of it on the top. Then decorate the tops with sliced almonds and a piece of marachino cherry’s . set the oven to preheat to  160c or 325f and bake until they are just starting to turn brown on the top , it takes about 20 minutes.