In der Weihnachtsbäckerei... In the Christmas bakery...
It was first Advent on Sunday last week, so it was time to light up the candles, and get my Christmas baking started! There are four Advents before Christmas, or as I like to think of them, four opportunities to get my baking on, hehehe!
I decided on Spekulatius, from my Dr Oetker Backen Macht Freude book. You might know these as spekulaas, those addictively crisp and spicy Dutch Christmas biscuits. Spekulatius is the German version.
The dough includes almond meal, and a heady mix of cinnamon, ground cloves and cardamom.
You just can't make German Gebäck without Vanillin-Zucker and little vials of Aromen!
The instructions simply tell you to mix everything together and knead to a smooth dough. (At least I'm pretty sure that's what they said - they were in German, after all).
It took quite a bit of kneading to get a smooth dough - I think it might have been more effective if I'd creamed the butter and sugar first, and then added the rest of the ingredients slowly.
I didn't have a funky wooden mould like the one in the book's photo, so went for gingerbread-people, and rectangles with flaked almonds.
These were lovely - just the right amount of spice, and a pleasantly chunky texture from the ground almonds. A few of the biscuits were slightly overcooked and hard; my bad, I should have taken them out of the oven when they had just turned a lovely light brown colour. Most of them, however, were just delicious.
So, dear friends, for the next 4 weeks, my kitchen is turning into eine Weihnachtsbäckerei (a Christmas-bakery). And no, I didn't just come up with that myself. Here is the inspiration! In der Weihnachtsbäckerei - a totally kitsch, totally German Christmas song, sung by Andy Borg & heartthrob (apparently) Florian Silbereisen. Guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit. Click play. If you dare...
It was first Advent on Sunday last week, so it was time to light up the candles, and get my Christmas baking started! There are four Advents before Christmas, or as I like to think of them, four opportunities to get my baking on, hehehe!
I decided on Spekulatius, from my Dr Oetker Backen Macht Freude book. You might know these as spekulaas, those addictively crisp and spicy Dutch Christmas biscuits. Spekulatius is the German version.
The dough includes almond meal, and a heady mix of cinnamon, ground cloves and cardamom.
You just can't make German Gebäck without Vanillin-Zucker and little vials of Aromen!
The instructions simply tell you to mix everything together and knead to a smooth dough. (At least I'm pretty sure that's what they said - they were in German, after all).
It took quite a bit of kneading to get a smooth dough - I think it might have been more effective if I'd creamed the butter and sugar first, and then added the rest of the ingredients slowly.I didn't have a funky wooden mould like the one in the book's photo, so went for gingerbread-people, and rectangles with flaked almonds.
These were lovely - just the right amount of spice, and a pleasantly chunky texture from the ground almonds. A few of the biscuits were slightly overcooked and hard; my bad, I should have taken them out of the oven when they had just turned a lovely light brown colour. Most of them, however, were just delicious.
So, dear friends, for the next 4 weeks, my kitchen is turning into eine Weihnachtsbäckerei (a Christmas-bakery). And no, I didn't just come up with that myself. Here is the inspiration! In der Weihnachtsbäckerei - a totally kitsch, totally German Christmas song, sung by Andy Borg & heartthrob (apparently) Florian Silbereisen. Guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit. Click play. If you dare...
It was first Advent on Sunday last week, so it was time to light up the candles, and get my Christmas baking started! There are four Advents before Christmas, or as I like to think of them, four opportunities to get my baking on, hehehe!
I decided on Spekulatius, from my Dr Oetker Backen Macht Freude book. You might know these as spekulaas, those addictively crisp and spicy Dutch Christmas biscuits. Spekulatius is the German version.
The dough includes almond meal, and a heady mix of cinnamon, ground cloves and cardamom.
You just can't make German Gebäck without Vanillin-Zucker and little vials of Aromen!
The instructions simply tell you to mix everything together and knead to a smooth dough. (At least I'm pretty sure that's what they said - they were in German, after all).
It took quite a bit of kneading to get a smooth dough - I think it might have been more effective if I'd creamed the butter and sugar first, and then added the rest of the ingredients slowly.I didn't have a funky wooden mould like the one in the book's photo, so went for gingerbread-people, and rectangles with flaked almonds.
These were lovely - just the right amount of spice, and a pleasantly chunky texture from the ground almonds. A few of the biscuits were slightly overcooked and hard; my bad, I should have taken them out of the oven when they had just turned a lovely light brown colour. Most of them, however, were just delicious.
So, dear friends, for the next 4 weeks, my kitchen is turning into eine Weihnachtsbäckerei (a Christmas-bakery). And no, I didn't just come up with that myself. Here is the inspiration! In der Weihnachtsbäckerei - a totally kitsch, totally German Christmas song, sung by Andy Borg & heartthrob (apparently) Florian Silbereisen. Guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit. Click play. If you dare...
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