• Recipes

Wow I had quiet a busy time! I moved in with my boyfriend two weeks ago and we still try to figure out where to move stuff so we’re both happy with how it looks. Also we have to make some tough decisions regarding furniture we own. Our apartment is just too small to fit everything! Anyone else had that issue moving together? Well anyways since Christmas is around the corner I decided to be productive today and make two kind of cookies. Both of them are a family staple and basically a tradition in most German households. They’re also very popular in Switzerland.

The first cookie that I’ll introduce to you today is called Mailänderli (Mailanderli without the umlaut) which is basically a butter shortcake with fresh egg glaze. Some might refer to it as a biscuit as well but we usually call them butter cookies. The great part is that you can use the leftover egg white from the Mailänderli to make Kokosmakronen (coconut macaroons). So you don’t produce any waste or leftovers which is an absolute plus since I hate to waste food. Also they both need the same temperature in the oven which is another great reason to make them at the same time. Plus you sound super productive when you say you baked two kind of cookies in one session! Sounds good? Well let’s start with the butter cookies a.k.a.Mailänderli, shall we?

For 50-70 Mailänderli cookies you’ll need:

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups flour
• 2 Cups sugar
• 2 Cups soft butter
• 4 eggs
• Zest of one lemon
• egg yolk to brush on

First whisk the eggs and sugar till it’s all creamy and frothy. Add the butter. (You know now where the name Butter Cookie comes from. 🙂 But I swear they are just plain delicious and worth the calories). Add sifted flour and lemon zest to the dough. Now knead the dough and shape it into a ball and leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Once it’s chilled take 1/3 of the dough and roll it out on a flour dusted surface. In my family we say that the dough has to be rolled out as thick as a pencil is 🙂 I think that’s quiet a cute comparison. Now cut out as many cookies as possible. If you have leftover dough just add it to the next third of the cold batch. It’s important to cool the dough because the butter will soften very quickly once it warms up. When the dough is too warm it will get all sticky and won’t turn into yummy cookies. So please keep the dough chilled and work in smaller batches. We always have one tiny little rest left that we just form into a circle. Nothing spectacular but it was always the most unique butter cookie due to it’s shape.

Once you have transferred the Mailänderli to a baking sheet brush a layer of egg yolk on them. It works best with a brush but I don’t have one yet so I used a fork instead. It worked just fine. The egg glaze give as nice tint and shine to the shortbread without any food coloring or extra sugar.

Heat up your oven to 300 degree Fahrenheit and bake the butter cookies for about 15 minutes. They should get slightly brown on the edges but really just a hint of brownish otherwise they will turn out too dry.

They look just so yummy! Mailänderli are really fluffy and have just the right amount of sugar that you don’t think about that Christmas weight 😉

These cookies go great with tea, coffee or a hot chocolate at any day or night time.

Oh and if you don’t want them to dry out keep an apple slice with them in the cookie box. It keeps them just enough moisturized. Switch out the apple slice every 2-3 days to prevent molding.

Do you have any traditionally Christmas cookies?

This post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted Jazzmine from Dash of Jazz.