Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars) are very traditional German Christmas cookies. They are a must on every Christmas cookie platter. You can get them at any grocery store in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but the cookie is also making its way farther across the borders. Some of the international stores of Lidl and Aldi already sell them.

Easy homemade

Zimtsterne are a macaroon-like cookie made with ground almonds and topped with a thin layer of meringue. They are slightly crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and spiced with cinnamon. It is a very delicious little cookie. If you can’t get them where you live, they can easily be made at home.

Ingredients

For the cookies:

300 g powdered sugar

500 g ground almonds

2 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp orange extract

3 egg whites

For the glaze:

1 egg white

Pinch of salt

125 g powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 150°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl and add the ground almonds and cinnamon.

Mix well.

Add the orange extract and egg whites and kneed until you get a smooth dough. This does require a bit of elbow grease.

It’s quite a sticky dough. You can best roll it out between two sheets of cling film or parchment paper. I use parchment paper and to prevent the bottom sheet to skid across the surface, I splash a bit of water on the counter. The parchment paper will stay in play nicely that way.

Don’t roll out the dough too thin. The perfect thickness would be about somewhere between 0,75 and 1 cm.

Cut out cookies with a star shaped cookie cutter.

Prepare the glaze: beat the egg white with a pinch of salt until it’s stiff.

Add the powdered sugar and mix well.

Top each cookie with the glaze. You can use a brush to apply the glaze or simply dip the top in it.

Put the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and bake 12 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes.

Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The Zimtsterne keep well for several weeks in an airtight container.

Enjoy!