Welcome to the next level of Christmas feelings: Zimtsterne – Cinnamon star Christmas cookies.
A very traditional German Christmas cookie which is made of almonds, cinnamon, powdered sugar and egg white. You will see them in every bakery and Christmas market in Germany this time of the year.
This cookie is basically “Christmas to eat” and just its smell will bring you into holiday mood. It reminds of childhood, excitement prior to Christmas and the cosiness of this festive time.
Get into the Christmas mood with this lovely recipe.
Things to know before you start
Time Schedule
| Steps | Work time | Waiting time |
| Mix – Dough | ~15 minutes | – |
| Rest | – | 2-12 hours |
| Mix – Glaze | ~10 minutes | – |
| Shape (2x) | ~15 minutes | – |
| Glaze | ~20 minutes | – |
| Bake (2x) | – | 20-25 minutes |
| Cool | – | 30 minutes |
In about 4 to 16 hours you will have a nice batch of Zimtsterne – Cinnamon star Christmas cookies.
Info: The work and waiting times for the shape and bake steps are per baking plate full of cookies. You will have dough for about 2 baking plates. So while one batch of cookies is baking in the oven, you can already prepare the next one.
Total ingredients
| Weight | Ingredient |
| 3x | Eggs (large) |
| 200 g | Powdered sugar |
| 350 g | Non-blanched finely ground almonds |
| 3 g | Cinnamon powder |
| ~25 g | All-purpose flour (optional) |
We can’t really tell how much “Zimtsterne” you will have in the end, because it totally depends on how big your star cookie cutter is and how thick you will roll out the dough. But with all these ingredients you should be able to bake about 30 to 40 medium sized cinnamon star Christmas cookies.
Info: The all-purpose flour is just in case when your dough gets too sticky.
Difficulty
A really straightforward and simple recipe.
Baking tools
You are good to go with a hand mixer, bowl, rolling pin, 2 baking plates (1 is also fine), parchment paper, cling film and of course star cookie cutters.
Check out our baking tools section to see what we are using on a daily basis while baking.
Steps
1. Mix – Dough
| Weight | Ingredient |
| 2x | Eggs (large) |
| 100 g | Powdered sugar |
| 350 g | Non-blanched finely ground almonds |
| 3 g | Cinnamon powder |
- Separate the eggs and put the egg yolks aside (unfortunately we won’t need the egg yolks at all)
- Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and then stop (be careful not to over-beat the egg whites)
- Sift in the powdered sugar while still beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form
- Fold in the non-blanched finely ground almonds and cinnamon powder until fully combined
2. Rest
- Press the dough together and wrap it in cling film
- Afterwards store it in the fridge at 4-6°C (39,2-42,8°F) for at least 2 hours
- Tip: You will get a better result, if you store the dough overnight (about 12 hours)
3. Mix – Glaze
| Weight | Ingredient |
| 1x | Egg (large) |
| 100 g | Powdered sugar |
- Separate the egg and put the egg yolk aside (unfortunately we also won’t need this egg yolk at all)
- Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form
- Sift in the powdered sugar while still beating the egg whites until you have a really firm glaze
4. Shape
- Take 2 baking plates and cover them with parchment paper
- Take the dough out of the fridge
- Place it on a surface
- Gently roll the dough out to about 1 cm
- Use a star cookie cutter to cut out cookies
- Place the cookies on the baking plates covered with parchment paper
- Form the scraps of the dough into a ball, roll it out again and cut further cookies out of the remaining dough until there is no more dough left for further cookies
- Tip: If the dough starts sticking to the rolling pin while rolling it out, add a little all-purpose flour on top of the dough and start rolling it out further
5. Glaze
- Take your previously prepared glaze and use a small spoon to drip a bit of the glaze on top of a cookie
- Use a toothpick to brush the glaze everywhere on top of the cookie all the way to the edges
- Repeat this process for all cookies
6. Bake
- Preheat oven to 100°C (212°F) for ~15 minutes with the circulating heat function
- Put the first baking plate with the cookies in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes
- Have a look from time to time on your cookies as the glaze should not get brown
- After baking take them out immediately
- Tip: While your first batch of cinnamon star cookies is in the oven, you can start glazing the next ones
7. Cool
- Let your “Zimtsterne” cool down for at least 30 minutes on some kind of baking grid
Conclusion
Taste
As outlined in the introduction, this cookie is “Christmas to eat”. The combination of almond and cinnamon taste is pure bliss and will make you feel cozy and relaxed – the right Christmas spirit.
As we couldn’t get finely ground almonds but only chopped ones, our cinnamon star Christmas cookies were a little chunkier than they normally should be.
However, these cookies are usually quite soft. The glaze is a little firmer which is a nice contrast. The “Zimtsterne” are a little sweet but almonds and cinnamon are the dominant taste.
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