Cinnamon Stars – Zimtsterne

Cinnamon stars are traditional Christmas cookies from Swabia and are made from a nut meringue topped with a mixture of egg whites and sugar.

Ingredients:

500 g (4 ½ cups) ground almonds
5 egg whites
450 g (3 ¾ cups) confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon Kirschschnaps (cherry liquor)

Instructions:

Beat egg whites until very firm. Add icing sugar and blend well.

Set aside 1 cup of icing sugar and egg white mixture for frosting. Add almonds, cinnamon, and Kirschschnaps to rest of mixture and mix well, then place in fridge and let rest for 1 hour.

Spread some icing sugar on work area and roll out dough to 1 cm (0.4 inch) thickness. Cut out stars with cookie cutter and brush evenly with egg white-sugar frosting. Place on cookie sheet and dry over night at room temperature.

Once dry, preheat oven to 220°C (430°F) and bake no more than 5 minutes. Stars should stay soft inside and white outside.

Credit: Ilona Beck, Rouleau