Poppy Seed - Marzipan Stollen

Stollen is the typical German "Christmas-Bread", actually it is more like a cake. It is made from a yeast dough and comes in many variations. Usual ingredients are dried fruit, nuts and marzipan. Most famous is the Dresdner Stollen. The stollen I made has a mixture of poppy seeds and marzipan in the middle and some nuts in the dough.

It is usually baked early in December and then let to rest for about two weeks, so all the flavors can infuse. It is perfect for an afternoon tea during Christmas time.

Coconut-Almond Macaroons

These little treats are perfect as a small gift to bring to a Christmas party . They are not your average coconut macaroons, since they also have a great almond taste. The roasted nuts give them a crunchy texture, but at the same time, the condensed milk makes them chewy. I made them for the first time and was pleasantly surprised at how good they are. My first batch is almost gone, so I guess I have to make some more soon.

The condensed milk used in the recipe is the sweetened type you get in North America, it is also used to make Dulce de Leche. It is not what we know in Germany as "Kondensmilch". It is a lot thicker and also sweet. The correct translation would be "gezuckerte Kondensmilch".

Hazelnut Butter Cookies

As I told you in my last post, we always bake lots and lots of cookies for Christmas in my family. These Hazelnut Cookies are in my Mom's repertoire as long as I can remember. Actually we are making these probably since I was five or six years old. The recipe came from a comic book which I was reading at that time, and since then we only call them Micky Mouse cookies. They are really easy to make and have a wonderful buttery taste.