What I’m baking for Christmas
As a child of German immigrants, Christmas always entailed baking traditional German Christmas cookies. A trip to Alpine Village in Torrance would yield store-bought Stollen and Lebkuchen, and sometimes my parents would make Gluehwein (hot mulled wine) from inexpensive burgundy warmed up and flavored with cinnamon sticks and whole cloves.
Weihnachtsstollen (Christmas Stollen) is a traditional yeasted loaf studded with candied fruit, raisins and marzipan (yum!) and is served during the Christmas season.
Gluehwein (literally translated as Glow Wine) is something traditionally available for purchase at Christmas Markets in Europe. As you’re walking around the stalls, looking at crafts and gifts, baked goods and holiday decorations, in order to stay warm, you’d buy yourself some Gluehwein. People would huddle around standing cocktail tables and chat and drink these warming drinks, enjoying the ambiance that these markets exude.
Stalls are placed in the center of town for everyone to congregate, shop, eat and enjoy during the holiday season.
Celebrating in the European tradition meant that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 24, when the Christkindl (Christ child) would come. I’d reluctantly go to bed after dinner and my parents would wake me up later to come out and open presents. Apparently while I was sleeping someone came and dropped off gifts (!). We’d sing Christmas songs, both in German and in English, and enjoy our baked yummies. It was a beautiful time.
As an adult each year, I look through my recipes and scour the internet for German Christmas cookie recipes and narrow it down to just 2-3 varieties that I decide to bake. I don’t go too crazy. This year I decided to make Vanillekipfeln (vanilla crescents dusted with powdered sugar) and Hazelnussmacronen (hazelnut macaroons).
Recipes compliments of The Toasty Kitchen.
But for something new and completely different, I got out the Nordicware Gingerbread House mold (see below) I received for Christmas last year and made the first of 3 of these for the holidays (2 are gifts for friends, 1 for us)!
I was kind of excited about it, but also nervous, because I have virtually zero experience piping royal icing on anything. I was worried I’d have crooked lines and rather than something lovely to look at, it would look like the haunted mansion or something scary.
I was also afraid that the cake wouldn’t come out of the mold and the roof would get torn off as I tried to unmold it and that I would have to reconstruct it somehow.
Instead, it came out like a charm. I allowed the cake to cool for several hours in the pan before attempting its removal. We figured it would shrink a bit from the sides and be easier to release. Piece of cake (ha ha).
The other night I took the first one to my friend’s house. She was having us over for dinner and I brought that along as the dessert. I didn’t tell her what I was making. I wanted it to be a surprise. She was surprised! We dove into it, eating nearly half of it for dessert. Here’s my creation. It’s my first draft, mind you, but I am still pretty happy with how it turned out.
Ta dah! Gingerbread house dusted with “snow”.
I realize I could have added a LOT more icing to the roof (like outline every single tile) and could have used some colored icing to jazz it up, but frankly, I didn’t want to goop it up with too much the first time around. But I do know what I would do differently next time (like in a few days when I make #2).
So, now you. What are you baking? Show me your creations on Facebook. I would love to see them!
