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Tradition

Advent Wreath

A very popular antique tradition of religious significance, is the preparation of the Advent wreath, a wreath of fir twigs, decorated with four candles, one for each Sunday of Advent.

Christmas tree 

The custom of having a decorated tree during the Christmas season, has been practiced since  the 17th century throughout Rhineland-Palatinate and Alsace 

Advent Calendar 

A tradition loved by children but also by adults. The calendar, with 24 windows, marks the time remaining to Christmas, starting from December 1st. On opening, each a window represents a new day and with it the promise to do a good deed.

Christmas recipes

Christstollen

Ingredients

- 250g butter
- 3 eggs
- 600g flour
- 300g brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 10g Spekulatius spice
- ¼ tsp salt
- Some flour to sprinkle on the biscuits
- A Spekulatius baking mould

Preparation

1. On the night before baking, the sultanas and currants should be drizzled with rum or brandy. Store the remaining ingredients in a warm room.

2. On baking day pour the flour into a bowl, press a recess in which the yeast and with a little lukewarm milk can be stirred to form a dough. Then let rise for approximately 15 minutes.

3. Afterwards mix in the sugar, spices, lard, margarine, grated lemon peel, ground almonds and warm milk, then add the drizzled sultanas and currants. Then knead in all the ingredients and leave to rise for two hours.

4. Now knead the dough again and divide into pieces each 1 or 1.5 kgs.

5. Shape the pieces of dough into an elongated shape, make a notch along the middle and leave on a lightly floured baking sheet for a further 30 minutes, before baking at a medium heat.

6. Allow the “stollen” to cool before buttering and then sprinkling with sugar and vanilla sugar.Following this, butter again and sprinkle with powdered sugar 

Elisenlebkuchen

Ingredients

• 10 eggs

• 500 g sugar

• 125g candied lemon

• 125g candied orange

• 1 tablespoon candied ginger, finely chopped

• Half a teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, clove, coriander, allspice, mace, cardamom

• 1 tsp vanilla sugar
 
  • The peels of 1 lemon and 1 orange

• 250g finely-grated carrots

• 225g flour

• 110g ground almonds

• 120g ground hazelnuts

• 1 pack of baking powder

• Large round wafers

• Chocolate icing
 
 
Preparation

1. Beat the sugar with the eggs until foamy, mix in the spices .

2. Chop the orange and lemon peel  and mix with the remaining ingredients.

3. The dough can then be spread over the wafers, and baked at 200 ° C for about 20 - 25 minutes.

4. After cooling, sprinkle  with the heated chocolate icing ...

 

Glühwein

Ingredients
For 8 portions:

- 8 cardamom pods
- 6 cloves
- 10 allspice (pimento)
- 4 capsules star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
'- 1 tsp. coriander seeds
- 1 tsp. Anissaat
- 1litre of dry red wine
- 1 untreated orange
- Sugar

Preparation

1. Press the cardmom pods with a large knife. Then crush the cardamom, cloves, allspice, star anise, cinnamon, coriander and Anissaat and tie into a tea bag.

2. Cover the filled tea bags with the red wine and 500ml of water and bring to boil. Meanwhile, wash the orange in hot water and cut into 0.5-1 cm thick slices and allow it to brew in the red wine at low heat for 20 min.

3. Finally, press the tea bag over the wine remove it and add sugar to taste. Cheers!

Spekulatius

Ingredients

- 250g butter
- 3 eggs
- 600g flour
- 300g brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 10g Spekulatius spice
- ¼ tsp salt
- Some flour to sprinkle on the biscuits
- A Spekulatius baking mould


Preparation

1. Melt the butter together with the salt, spices, egg, sugar and flour and then knead into a ball and refrigerate the dough for 24 hours.

2. Cut out a piece of the dough, place it on the floured mould and press in by hand.

3. Cut off  the overlapping dough with a knife. Now turn over the mould and tap lightly so that  the dough will fall out of the mould.

4. Finally, preheat the oven to 200 degrees and bake the dough shapes on a baking tray covered with baking paper for 15-20 minutes.

Vanillekipferl

Ingredients

For 40 cones:

- 2 vanilla pods
- 150g butter
- 80g castor sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- A pinch of salt
- 50g cornflour
- 120g flour
- 70g ground almonds
- 80g icing sugar

Preparation

1.Open the vanilla pods lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Mix the butter, sugar, egg yolks, 1 pinch of salt and vanilla with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Mix and sieve the starch and flour. Add the flour mixture and almonds and quickly knead with the kneading hook of the hand mixer to a smooth dough.

3. Separate the dough into 8 equally large pieces. Roll these dough pieces into about 30 cm long rolls and leave to cool down for one hour.

4. Cut each roll into 6 cm long pieces ( 5 pieces from each roll) and shape into a crescent shape. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper sheets and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees (gas 2-3, convection oven 160 degrees) until the crescent-shaped “Kipfeln” turn light brown (10-12 minutes)

5. Mix the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar. Roll the lukewarm Kipferl gently on it and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Zimtsterne

Ingredients

- 3 egg whites
- 225 g icing sugar
- The peel of one lemon
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 300g ground almonds
- 100g icing sugar

Preparation

1. Beat the egg white into foam. Then stir the powdered sugar and grated lemon peel together with the egg white foam about 15 minutes, strongly and continuously, until the mixture is very creamy. (Best to use a mixer)

2. Set at least 8 tablespoons aside,to be used later to coat the stars. Add the cinnamon and ground almonds and mix well.

3. Now roll out the resulting dough onto a baking tray powdered with sugar so that it is at least 8mm thick and cut out the cookies with a star cutter. Coat these stars with the egg white foam and bake at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.