Zimtsterne: Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies.....Week 7

There's no point in telling you these cookies were simple to make. They weren't. But they ARE a true European Christmas cookie; interesting, frustrating,  unusual and yes, tasted wonderful, but will I make them again? Well....maybe. And compared with some of the other photos I found online of these, all I can say is: I had a bad baking AND camera day. Oh well, I'm going to post this anyway. They were worth the trouble.

First of all, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, The Many Meals of Rose Bakery is a gem of a cookbook.

And that's where I found this recipe...they called it Almond, Cinnamon and Meringue Biscuits. But what they really are is Zimtsterne, or erstesternen ("first stars"), a reference to the heavenly signs indicating the end of a fast day. They are traditionally served by German Jews at the meal following Yom Kippur. You can read more about them here, here and here. European bakeries make them only during the holidays, rather like my mother's favorite Christmas cookie, Springerle. And they are usually made in star shape. I made them round. For one thing, I didn't have a small star cookie cutter and for another working those star points with that dough and meringue was beyond me. Perhaps with practice.....

This is what David Lebovitz says about them (and he doesn't make his own, he buys them):
"There’s just something about these chewy little stars, spiced with lots of cinnamon, then brushed with a glaze of royal icing that provides just the right bit of creamy sweetness in contrast to the chewy cookie below."

So here's the thing. The dough is difficult to work with and I made two different batches, correcting the original recipe a little to make it slightly easier to work with. Still....not the easiest cookie dough to roll out. But as I said, after the first bite, it was worth the effort!
Bench note: many recipes call for 1/2 cup candied citrus peel which I omitted 'cause I just don't like it.

Zimtsterne
Adapted from Breakfast Lunch Tea, The Many Meals of Rose Bakery

 Ingredients:

3 1/3 cups ground almonds (I used almond flour)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice of 1/2 lemon and grated zest of 1 lemon
4 egg whites
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

 Method:
First, make the meringue. Beat the whites until they form stiff peaks. Then very gradually add the sugar. When the mixture is very stiff, beat in the lemon juice. Set aside 6 ounces of the meringue for the topping, covering with a damp cloth. Place the rest in a bowl.
 Add the ground almonds, cinnamon and lemon zest and mix by hand. Mix until you have a dough-like paste. If it is too sticky to handle, add more ground almonds, by the tablespoon, until it is manageable. If the dough crumbles or falls apart, add a few drops of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the reserved egg whites. When the dough has reached the proper consistency refrigerate for one hour.
 Butter a baking tray and line it with parchment paper.
 Then dust a pastry board lightly with granulated sugar. Shape the dough into a flat round and dust the surface lightly with sugar. Roll the dough out into a rectangle 3/8 inch thick. Add more sugar on the board as necessary.
 Cut into desired shapes and place on the baking tray.
 Remove the cloth from the reserved egg whites. Use a metal spatula to smooth an even coating of the meringue over the entire surface of your cookie, just enough to cover it completely with white. To smooth the surface further, dip the spatula in hot water and run it across the glaze.
 Leave to dry on the prepared tray for about an hour.
 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes until the bases are lightly golden. The tops should remain white and the bases must be soft and moist. And BTW? Keeping the tops from  browning is another tricky part!

Cranberry Ice Cream

Every once in a while, a recipe makes me close my eyes and say Mmmmmmm. This is one of those times.  The flavor and color, the hint of honey, the tanginess of cranberries and would you believe there is brown sugar in this ice cream?? Words cannot describe. Not too sweet, tart and divine.

Interestingly, this recipe uses gelatin as an ingredient. After some investigation, I discovered gelatin assists in absorbing some of the free water in the ice cream and helps prevent the formation of large crystals. It also gives substance or a less watery taste when the ice cream is consumed.

So, this is the last of my Maida Heatter ice cream recipes for this season (I may sneak in someone else's though)...pretty soon I'll have you all putting her books on your wish list. But let me warn you, there aren't that many ice cream recipes in them....just a few in each book. Which makes them all the rarer. Maida's choosey. But her other recipes are worth their weight in gold; fortunately, Amazon is a great source for used books.

You don't need to serve a thing with this ice cream. I did briefly consider dumping in some dark mini chocolate chips at the end of churning (which I may try the next time I make it) but for the holidays, I wanted that pure red color and just a sprig of green mint. Thanksgiving or Christmas, you decide. It's perfect after a heavy meal.

Cranberry Ice Cream

From Maida Heatter's Great Book of New Desserts

Ingredients:
2 pounds (about 10 cups) cranberries, fresh or frozen
2 cups water
2 cups orange juice
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup honey
2 cups heavy cream

Method:
Wash, pick over and drain the berries. Place them in a large saucepan with the water and orange juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little. Then process in a processor or blender. Press the mixture through a large stainer into a large bowl. Set aside.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water, set aside.

Bring the corn syrup and the 1/2 cup of water to a boil in a saucepan. Boil gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add the gelatin and stir to dissolve. Add the brown sugar, stir to dissolve. Remove from heat and add the honey, stirring to dissolve everything.

Mix this mixture into the cranberry mixture and set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. You can also chill it quickly in the freezer.

When you are ready to churn, Whip the heavy whipping cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters until it slightly holds a shape. Fold the cream thoroughly into the cranberry mixture and churn.

*Bench notes: This makes enough for a 4 quart churn. Mine is not that big so I cut the recipe in half.

This ice cream will stay semi-firm for several hours after putting it in the freezer. Maida likes it best at this consistancy. I don't. I froze it overnight.

Grateful Pudding (and giveaway winners)

Don't you love the name of this pudding? It's almost worth making just to announce it to your Thanksgiving guests! My family really enjoys plum pudding after a turkey dinner, so they had quite a surprise when I served a light rather than dark steamed pudding last time. Fortunately, they were crazy about it. I have some of my grandmother's old pudding molds- but this is the shape I like best. And it just fits perfectly in my soup pot for steaming.
 

This holiday pudding is a Martha Stewart recipe from her old cookbook Entertaining. An amazingly simple recipe (although you have to prepare the fruit by soaking overnight) and it's done in about an hour. I kind of like the traditional idea of a steamed pudding for Thanksgiving. Martha suggests using her sour lemon sauce and it's excellent with this pudding. Everyone enjoyed the tart lemon flavor (especially my dad) of this sauce. But you could make my mother's caramel brandy sauce- which would be good too-that recipe is HERE.

Grateful Pudding
From Martha Stewart's Entertaining

 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup muscat raisins
1/4 cup cognac
6 cups white bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 in squares (I used challah)
3 cups whipping cream
1 vanilla bean
6 eggs
1 lemon
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon mace

For the lemon sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
dash salt
1 1/4 cups hot water
3 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 Tablespoons grated lemon rind


Method:
Grate the rind of one lemon and soak the raisins with the cognac and the rind overnight. Drain.
Butter and sprinkle with sugar a 2 qt. covered mold including the inside of the lid.
Layer the bread alternating with the raisins. Scald the cream with the vanilla bean and cool slightly. Remove bean, scrape out the seeds and put back in the milk. Beat eggs and sugar until light and gradually pour in the cream. Add the mace and pour over the bread.
Secure lid and steam for 1 hour on a rack in a covered kettle with water 2/3 up the side of the mold.
Unmold pudding carefully and serve with sauce. Serves 8-10. You don't need big servings...this is quite rich.

Method for the lemon sauce:
Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a double boiler. Add hot water and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Add butter, lemon juice and rind. Cook a little longer.


And here are the lucky Cookbook Giveaway Winners. I used the random number generator to pick  four and then if possible, tried to give you the cookbooks you requested.

Then first winner is Donna from My Tasty Treasures . She won the Rose Levy Beranbaum cookie cookbook.

The second winner is Dana from The Kitchen Witch. She won Maida Heatter's Chocolate cookbook.

The third winner is Lea Ann from Mangos Chili and Z.    She won Dorie's book.

 The final winner is Susan from Schnitzel and the Trout.   She won Nigella's book.

Congratulations to all of you! Please email your mailing information to bsmithw@gmail.com so I can mail your cookbook out ASAP!