• RosyFloof on June 01, 2022

  Such a great book for seasonal baking and gifting. I made a few different recipes last winter and plan to make even more next time!

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Elisen lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen)

  • Apollonia on December 23, 2021

    Fantastic! Really loved these. I had a hard time spreading my mixture onto the oblaten, so they didn't turn out super beautiful, but the taste was heavenly. I used the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves substitution, with the addition of a pinch of nutmeg, cardamom, and coriander to more closely mimic the lebkuchen spice. Yum!

• Lebkuchen hearts (Lebkuchenherzen)

  • grace674491 on January 10, 2026

    Easy and a firm favourite every year! Makes a good quantity for gifts.

• Spiced almond lebkuchen (Mandel printen)

  • grace674491 on January 10, 2026

    These are a must in our household every December. They’re the 12 year old’s favourite! I found the method detailed in the recipe of rolling them out too sticky and tricky. Instead, I lightly flour the bench and press the dough into a rectangle that accommodates the amount of biscuits (I can’t remember the maths). I then press all of the blanched almond pieces into the flourless top of the dough, cut into rectangles, spread on a baking tray and bake.

• Cheese and poppy seed rolls (Käsebrötchen)

  • Apollonia on December 23, 2021

    Fantastic! The dough was very easy to work with, and the cheese and poppyseed gave it great flavor and texture. Will make again.

  • pie4u on April 14, 2022

    Delicious and easy to make. Used cheddar instead of Emmental. Will make again and not just during the holidays.

• Almond domes (Bethmännchen)

  • Victoria_from_London on November 23, 2021

    Use more than 1 tsp orange b/w next time. Divides into 24 blobs the size of small cherry tomatoes. Luisa Weiss's version uses halved almonds, which is fiddly to do (easier after you blanch them yourself) but I do find the halves stay stuck on better than whole almonds. I think they are a dry sort of treat - great with a drink but a little dry on their own.

  • pie4u on December 03, 2021

    This is the second recipe I have tried from this really beautiful book. Very easy and quick to make. Mine came out a bit dry, but that was likely on me for using somewhat old marzipan and baking a little longer than recommended as I wanted to achieve the brown color. It was a bit challenging to get the almonds to stick to the outside but not a huge deal. Very tasty particularly if you love the flavor of marzipan as I do.

• Quark fritters (Quarkbällchen)

  • RhubarbTam on January 06, 2024

    Good. Pillowy-centered from the quark and outside crisp from the cornstarch. Low level sweetness from the powdered sugar. Reminded me a lot of other Scandinavian 'doughnuts' but might be a harder sell to Americans who like their doughnuts sweet and bouncy. I would make again in an Advent context, but this is not our favorite doughnut recipe.

• Stollen bites (Stollenkonfekt)

  • eliza on November 26, 2022

    These were easy to make and very good. I made the quark the day before in my instant pot (buttermilk on yogurt setting for 8 hrs, drained overnight). I mixed the butter, egg, and quark in my stand mixer, then added that with fruit to dry ingredients. I forgot the lemon zest, I’m sure it would be a good addition. Baked about 22 min, turning once. She says they store for a week in a sealed container so I will try that. A good alternative to making traditional stollen which takes a full day to bake and cool.

• Cinnamon stars (Zimtsterne)

  • sarahkalsbeek on December 06, 2021

    The recipe calls for ground almonds (almond flour) - since almond flour was in parentheses and that's what I had on hand, that's what I used. The amount of almond flour in grams was not ANYWHERE close to the measurement amount in cups (we're talking several cups difference). I'm guessing that's just because there can be so much variation in the grind size of nut flours? Anyway, I looked up other recipes online for zimtsterne and ended up going with the smaller amount of almond flour. Since I looked up other recipes, I noticed another big difference: traditionally, the egg white glaze is put on before baking, whereas this recipe has you put a royal icing glaze on top after baking/cooling. Long story short, since I've never had zimtsterne before I have no idea if they tasted how they were supposed to. They weren't my personal favorite, but my husband and six-year-old loved them! Edit: I enjoyed these cookies a lot more once they sat for a day or two.

  • AmberBee on December 17, 2021

    Agreed with Sarahkalabeek completely with this one! I tried almond flour too, but it was a gloopy mess with the measurements given. I even used the weight measurement. I added enough almond flour to make the dough firm enough to roll out. Not my favorite from the book either. I'll skip these next time.

  • laurenlangston on December 18, 2021

    I made this recipe as printed in the San Jose Mercury News, measuring by weight and using Bob’s Red Mill almond flour. It was a total mess. I ended up rolling dough into balls and pressing them down a little on the baking sheet so I’d have SOMETHING, but these did not go on the cookie tray this year.

  • calguire on December 04, 2025

    I was a little hesitant to try this recipe after reading the previous comments. I looked at other zimtsterne recipes online, and went slowly while adding the almond flour. In the end I used 260 grams of Bob's Red Mill almond flour. The dough was pretty easy to work with if I was generous with the icing sugar on my work surface. Overall, it worked well for me and the cookies were really good.

  • grace674491 on December 22, 2025

    As I attempted rolling out the “dough” in a sea of icing sugar, I was ambivalent. It was very light and sticky. More like a meringue consistency (I measured everything’s except for the eggs by weight, and I added an extra egg white as the ones I was using were miniscule). But I persevered, and as more air was knocked out of the dough and more icing sugar was added with each subsequent re roll, it made more and more sense. The resulting biscuits vary dramatically from the first cut to the last, but the icing does a very good job at covering the inconsitancies! Next time I would add more icing sugar to the biscuit mixture as needed so that it more resembles a dough. Or, if it was too dry, I would add another egg white. Also, I wouldn’t ever attempt to make them larger than the star pattern given. You wouldn’t be able to get them off the bench without breaking! I don’t know if the end result is how they’re “meant” to be, but we’re enjoying eating them and the way they look!

• White pepper spiced biscuits (Weiße pfeffernüsse)

  • AmberBee on December 17, 2021

    These were definitely tasty! I love the white pepper, and it's not overwhelming. Will make these again! Mine came out to only about 20 cookies, so I made mine too big. Roll then smaller than you think! 1 tsp is a tiny Pfeffernüsse, but it will be perfect for the small bunter teller tins.

• Brown pepper spiced biscuits (Braune pfeffernüsse)

  • Lepa on December 23, 2021

    Pfeffernusse are my husband's favorite cookie so most years if I am not overwhelmed with work and small children I try to make some. I haven't found my forever recipe and I'm afraid these aren't that recipe, either. These were good but not great. I may have made them a bit too big and they had an unpleasant flavor in the middle. They were extremely unattractive. That said, we ate them in two days. I keep thinking of the kind we bought in the store when I was a kid (more cookie-like with a chewy texture and crackly white glaze). I wish I could find a recipe that ends up tasting like those.

• Aniseed biscuits (Springerle)

  • sarahkalsbeek on December 21, 2021

    I cheated and ate one of these when they came out of the oven. I know they are supposed to sit for a while. But they are delicious!! I bought some springerle molds and it was definitely tricky - the dough wanted to stick to the molds even after flouring, which was frustrating. So they didn't turn out perfectly shaped, but that's ok for a first try! I did use the baker's ammonia for the first time and that was quite an experience.

  • Babycarrot on December 20, 2023

    These were absolutely delicious and the anise flavors gets even better over time. Well worth the work imo

• Nut batons (Nußstangen)

  • Shepherdabi on December 21, 2021

    Husband made these. Didn't have ground almonds - and I hate ground almonds - so he used mix of walnuts and hazelnuts that he ground in the processor. Topped with pistachios. Very nice.

• Hazelnut and lemon hearts (Haselnuß-zitronenherzen)

  • alysekstokes on December 15, 2025

    Another delightful chewy nut meringue cookie from Advent. The flavors are toasty and warm and the texture is addictive with the right balance of crisp edges and chewy centers.

• Chocolate and vanilla shortbreads (Schwarz-weiß gebäck)

  • eliza on December 10, 2025

    My dough didn’t come together so I added a tablespoon of milk. My sugar was not superfine so maybe that’s why. I did the marbled look, baked 12 minutes as stated. Next time, I may add a little almond extract to the light dough.

• Chocolate peppermint biscuits (Schoko-pfefferminztaler)

  • eliza on December 10, 2023

    A really simple recipe that comes together quickly and makes a very nice cookie. I made a half recipe and used the hand mixing method for this; I cut them quite small and got 22 cookies. The chocolate flavour is surprisingly rich considering there’s just cocoa powder in these. I used a slightly different recipe for the icing but used peppermint extract as per the recipe. Recipe available on The Guardian website.

• Spiced chocolate hearts (Basler brunsli)

  • eliza on December 21, 2024

    Very tasty cookies, and very easy to make. I used the food processor method and my chocolate included both unsweetened and semi sweet. Baked 15 min at 300 fan. The resulting cookies are very good and not too sweet. As written these are also gluten free. Really enjoying this book and go back to it every Christmas.

• Jam-filled double deckers (Doppeldecker)

  • Nancy402 on December 12, 2021

    Very easy dough to work with, and tasty. Sandwiched and filled them as required rather than all at once.

• Braided raisin bread (Rosinenzopf)

  • RhubarbTam on January 06, 2024

    Really good. The quark adds a really soft texture to the crumb. It's super soft and pillowy. Not a sweet bread, despite the raisins, but is great with jam.

• Marzipan snowflake cake (Schneeflocken marzipankuchen)

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on December 19, 2021

    This is a delicious cake. I didn’t see what size cake tin I was supposed to be using, so I used a round 18 cm tin. No way I could have made 2 layers. This was a thin cake already. Left out the raspberry jam.

• Vanilla crescents (Vanillekipferl)

  • AmberBee on December 17, 2021

    This is my favorite cookie out of this book so far! Great to have with coffee! I will definitely make these again and again!

  • Lepa on December 23, 2021

    These were a bit plain for us. I think I didn't add enough salt. I also used almond flour that I bought instead of fresh grinding almonds and wonder if that made a difference. I may try these again. . .

  • grace674491 on January 10, 2026

    Small and on the plain side (not a negative). *Very* easy to make and a lovely addition to a plate of gingerbread.

• Iced orange biscuits (Orangenplätzchen)

  • AmberBee on December 17, 2021

    These were delicious! The dough was definitely looser than expected, by far. I rolled out using flour, and added extra to the dough prior to rolling. I also chilled the dough for about half and hour. If you make a couple of adjustments, they make a delicious orange cookie!

  • eeeve on December 19, 2021

    We like these too, they definitely taste like the Christmas cookies from my childhood in Germany. I also found the dough to be very soft and added what seemed like quite a lot of flour to the worktop and rolling pin to aid rolling out. Together with icing and sprinkles these biscuits came out incredibly sweet.

  • eliza on December 24, 2023

    We enjoyed these. I hadn’t read the other notes, but refrigerated the dough for a while before rolling out. The icing amount was exactly right for the cookies. My friends (the cookie experts) really liked them.

• Rum balls (Rumkugeln)

  • Lepa on December 23, 2021

    My husband isn't a baker but he made these as his contribution to our neighborhood cookie exchange and we were both wowed by them. They are so simple and luscious. We will definitely be making these a yearly tradition! My husband says the dough is very goopy and difficult to form into a ball. Maybe chilling the dough for a short time before making them would be helpful?

• Chocolate-coated walnut marzipan (Walnuß marzipan)

  • eeeve on December 10, 2025

    Made the marzipan part from this recipe, it came together quickly and easily. I used gin instead of vodka (didn't have any in) and find I cannot taste this. Maybe I need to be bolder with the amount? I used the marzipan to stuff dates, and then pressed it into dark chocolate shavings. Tasted great. Need to go and buy more dates now and then I will dip the stuffed dates in melted dark chocolate.

• Eat Your Books

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