Cora's Cottage

Traditional cookies are one of my favorite things to make around the holidays as a reminder of generations past and to hold unto family heritage and tradition.  Some of the family traditions I grew up with are German, including these cut-out German Christmas cookies. 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Traditional: A great traditional recipe for anyone of German heritage!
• Unique: These Christmas cookies are very unique!  I have never come across another cookie that is very similar to these.
• Festive: These cookies are festive because they can be cut out into seasonal shapes and frosted.

Tips for This Recipe

• Chilling the dough makes it much more manageable.  I chill the dough overnight or even up to 24 hours as long as the dough is covered by plastic wrap to keep the moisture locked into the cookie dough.
• While the dough will seem super stiff after being refrigerated for that long, the dough softens quickly when you begin working with it.  However, it might be easiest to remove it from the bowl using a metal spoon if you do not wrap individual balls of dough in plastic wrap to roll out.
• If you do not wish to make frosting with the egg whites the whole egg may be used.

Pairings

• A glass of milk or hot chocolate
• Cold winter days
• Christmas celebrations

Tools

• Mixing Bowl
• Mixing Spoon
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons
• Plastic Wrap
• Cookie Sheets
• Tea Towel and/or Cooling Rack
• Spatula

Ingredients

• Sugar
• Butter, room temperature
• Eggs
• Anise Seeds
• Flour
• Powdered Sugar

How to Make Cut-Out German Christmas Cookies

Start by setting out the butter at least 12 hours before mixing up the dough as you will need soft, room temperature butter.   When you have soft, room temperature butter mix together the butter, sugar, and the egg yolks(or whole egg if you are not making frosting).

When all these ingredients are creamed together, add in the anise seeds and mix until they are incorporated.  Slowly add in the flour. 

Place the dough covered or in balls wrapped in plastic wrap into the refrigerator to chill overnight.  This will help to make the dough more manageable when rolling it out; as well as, help the cookies keep their shape as you place them on cookie sheets.

On a clean counter that is lightly floured, roll out the dough to 1/4- to 1/8-inch thick and cut into your desired shapes.  I have found that a bench scraper can be helpful to transfer cookies from the counter to the cookie sheet, especially if you are using larger cookie cutters.

Bake the cookies at 375°F for 8-10 minutes.  After removing the cookies from the oven, allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before moving them to a tea towel or cooling rack to cool completely. 

Once the cookies have cooled completely, you can frost them using the egg whites and powdered sugar.  When making your frosting, add powered sugar until you get your desired consistency of frosting. 

The more powdered sugar the thicker the frosting.  For example, if you wish to pipe frosting onto the cookies, you will want to add less powdered sugar than if you would like to spread the frosting onto the cookies.

Store cookies at room temperature for 5-7 days.  Cookies that have not been frosted can be frozen for up to 3 months.