Zimtsterne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
• •Star cutter, about 5cm wide
• •Rolling pin
• •Baking sheets lined with baking paper
• •Small offset spatula
• •Metal cookie tin

Instructions

1. 1

   Whip the meringue

   Beat the egg whites with the salt until foamy, then add the sifted icing sugar a spoon at a time and beat until thick, glossy, and able to hold a soft peak. Slow sugar gives a smooth lid; dump it in at once and the meringue stays grainy. Beat in the lemon juice at the end, because the acid steadies the egg white and keeps the icing white.

   Keep back about 5 tablespoons of this meringue for the topping before the nuts go in. That lid is the face of the cookie, so don't try to rebuild it later with plain icing sugar.
2. 2

   Make the dough

   Fold the cinnamon and 400g ground almonds into the remaining meringue, adding Kirsch or rum if you use it. The dough should be sticky but able to hold together when pressed; if it slumps like paste, work in the extra ground hazelnuts or almonds a spoon at a time. Nut meal varies in oil and moisture, and the dough tells you when it has enough.

3. 3

   Chill and roll

   Wrap the dough and chill it for at least 1 hour, because cold nut dough cuts cleanly and warm dough smears into the star points. Roll it 8mm thick between sheets of baking paper dusted with icing sugar. Use sugar, not flour, because these are flourless cookies and flour dulls the chew.

4. 4

   Glaze and cut

   Spread the reserved meringue over the rolled dough in a thin even layer, then cut stars with a cutter dipped in cold water and wiped between cuts. A wet cutter leaves sharp points and a clean white lid; a dry sticky cutter drags the meringue down the sides and makes ragged stars. Move them to lined baking sheets with a small offset spatula.

5. 5

   Bake pale

   Bake at 140C, or 120C fan, for 10 to 12 minutes, one tray at a time, until the meringue is dry to the touch but still white and the cookie gives slightly in the centre. Do not chase golden colour. Brown is too far here. The almond dough finishes firming on the tray as it cools, and that is how it stays chewy.

6. 6

   Store to soften

   Let the Zimtsterne cool fully on the tray, then pack them in a tin with baking paper between layers. They are good the next day and better after two, because the nut dough settles and the cinnamon rounds out. Das braucht seine Zeit.

Chef Tips

• •Use finely ground almonds, not coarse chopped nuts. Coarse nuts tear the dough and leave rough star edges, while fine almonds bind with the egg white and give the proper chew.
• •Skin-on almonds give a darker, deeper dough under the white lid. Blanched almonds make a paler cookie. Both are right; the texture matters more than the colour.
• •Keep the oven low. If your meringue browns before the cookie sets, your oven runs hot, so drop it 10C and bake the next tray longer. Runter mit der Temperatur.
• •Pack them only when fully cool. Warm cookies in a closed tin sweat, and then the white lid goes sticky before Advent has done its work.
• •Broken stars are not waste. Crumble them over stewed apples or fold them into whipped cream for a quick Advent dessert. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed and chilled overnight; wrap it tightly so the surface does not dry before rolling.
• •Baked Zimtsterne keep 2 to 3 weeks in a tin at cool room temperature, with baking paper between layers.
• •For batch cooking, roll and cut all trays before baking, then bake one tray at a time so each batch gets the same low heat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 19g)