Last week we got a package from Germany with lots of nice things. Christmas Books for the kids and those little doilies that my grandmother owned, some of them handmade by my Danish great grandmother.

Apart from that there were cookie cutters, rolling pins and other things for weeks full of Christmas baking. Danke Papa!!!

In Germany you just can’t have Christmastime without home made cookies. To keep this tradition alive we got out the flour, eggs and sugar and dove right into the Christmas baking. The following recipe is one of the easiest and lots of fun even with the smallest kids.

Simple Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

•  250 g flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 100 g butter
• 100 g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• zest of one lemon

Icing:

• icing sugar
• some lemon juice
• jam and cocoa powder for colouring

We put the flour into a bowl, added the egg yolk, the butter (in small pieces), the salt, the sugar and the lemon zest. With lots and lots of kneading we made a smooth dough (you could use a hand mixer to make it easier – I have to get one!). We let the dough rest for 30 min in the fridge and then used a rolling pin to spread it on a floured surface.

Now it’s time to get creative with shapes (if you don’t have cookie cutters you can just use a glass for round cookies or cut various shapes with a knife.). Place your cookies on a baking tray which is lined with baking paper. Bake for 10 to 15 min at Gas 4/180°C/350 F. Be careful that your cookies don’t get too dark.

Once the cookies are cool enough you can “paint” them with icing and decorate them. We used icing sugar and a bit of lemon juice for white icing, added a bit of jam to get pink icing or added cocoa powder to get brown icing. You could also use food colouring if you want.

Enjoy!

What are YOUR favourite Christmas Cookies? Have you been baking recently?