{"id":6793,"date":"2015-12-09T14:26:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T14:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=6793"},"modified":"2017-11-22T15:55:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T15:55:59","slug":"9-german-christmas-bakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/9-german-christmas-bakes\/","title":{"rendered":"9 German Christmas Bakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frohe Weihnachten!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026 Ok, so we\u2019re not quite that far yet. But last year I wrote a series of posts on German Christmas traditions, including the Christkind,<\/a> and the German history of the Weihnachtsbaum<\/a> (Christmas tree). What is there to cover this year, I thought, that hasn\u2019t been covered already? Well, my friends, there\u2019s food!<\/strong><\/p>\n

My friends sometimes send me photos of German Christmas biscuits they\u2019ve found in English shops. Lidl<\/strong> and Aldi<\/strong>, German supermarkets now common in the UK, sell them, as do TKMaxx<\/strong>, amongst others. You can also buy them, of course, on online shops including Amazon,<\/strong> and at the German-style Christmas markets<\/strong> you get at this time of year in London and other big cities. So before you stock up on your Christmas treats for this year, take a look at this list and see if there is anything German you want to try!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stollen<\/h3>\n
\"Christmas<\/a>

Stollen. Foto: seadam on flickr.com under CC BY-ND 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Stollen, also known as Weihnachtsstollen<\/em> (Christmas Stollen), is a German fruit cake made using chopped, candied fruit or dried fruit, with or without marzipan, and topped with icing sugar. It originated in Dresden and was once called Striezel<\/em>, meaning \u2018loaf\u2019.<\/p>\n

Lebkuchen<\/h3>\n
\"DSC06891\"<\/a>

Lebkuchen. Foto: acme on flickr.com underCC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

My favourite! Lebkuchen, also sometimes called Pfefferkuchen<\/em>, is German gingerbread. These soft, cake-like treats come in many different shapes and sizes, often shaped as hearts and stars at Christmas time. Some come on an Oblaten<\/em>, a wafer-thin, edible white base – similar to those wafers used in Holy Communion in church. There are many variations on Lebkuchen. Some are chocolate-covered, others are plain. Some use spices such as cinnamon and cloves, while others use orange or lemon peel to achieve a more citrusy flavour.<\/p>\n

Marzipankartoffeln<\/h3>\n
\"Eigene<\/a>

Marzipankartoffeln. Foto: schoschie on flickr.com under CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Marzipankartoffeln (\u2018Marzipan potatoes\u2019) are little Marzipan balls shaped to look like mini potatoes, and dusted in cocoa\/cinnamon to give them their potato-like colour. In Germany, these little treats are traditionally given to friends in goodie bags.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Weihnachtspl\u00e4<\/u>tzchen: Christmas biscuits
\n<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Weihnachtspl\u00e4tzchen<\/em> (‘Christmas biscuits’) come in all shapes and delicious sizes! It is traditional to bake these at home at Christmas time, but you can, of course, buy them ready-made. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vanillekipferl<\/h3>\n
\"Weihnachtskekse:<\/a>

Vanillekipferl. Foto: 111032846@N06 on flickr.com under CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

The Vanillekipferl is a crescent-shaped treat made with ground almonds or hazelnuts, and gets its name from the heavy coating of vanilla sugar it has on top of it. The word Kipferl <\/em>(‘croissant’) is common only to Austria and Bavaria, so in other parts of Germany you may see these bakes called Vanilleh\u00f6rnchen (\u2018Vanilla horns\u2019), instead.<\/p>\n

Zimtsterne<\/h3>\n
\"Zimtsterne\"<\/a>

Zimtsterne. Foto: seelensturm on flickr.com under CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Zimtsterne (\u2018Cinnamon stars\u2019) are soft, star-shaped biscuits flavoured with almond and cinnamon, and coated in icing.<\/p>\n

Dominosteine<\/h3>\n
\"Was<\/a>

Dominosteine. Foto: dskley on flickr.com under CC BY-ND 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Dominosteine (‘Domino stones’) are square-shaped little cakes that start with a base layer of Lebkuchen<\/em>, followed by a layer of jelly (sour cherry\/apricot) and topped off with a layer of marzipan. They are then coated in dark chocolate.<\/p>\n

Schwarz-Wei\u00df-Geb\u00e4ck<\/h3>\n
\"Schwarz-Wei\u00df-Geb\u00e4ck\"<\/a>

Schwarz-Wei\u00df-Geb\u00e4ck. Foto: blumenbiene on flickr.com under CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

This so-called ‘Black-White Bake’ is a biscuit with one light section and one dark (cocoa) section. It can have any pattern or design on it, as long as it has both schwarz<\/em> (black) and weiss <\/em>(white) sections! This is not the best photo, but it’s all I was able to use. Type ‘Schwarz-Wei\u00df-Geb\u00e4ck’ into a search engine to see all of the beautiful designs this festive treat comes in.<\/p>\n

Pfeffern\u00fcsse<\/h3>\n
\"Pfeffern\u00fcsse\"<\/a>

Pfeffern\u00fcsse. FotoL baumgarf on flickr.com under CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

The Pfeffernuss (\u2018pepper nut\u2019) is a small, highly spiced cookie with a hard outer shell. It is usually spiced with cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.<\/p>\n

Spekulatius<\/h3>\n
\"Marie<\/a>

Spekulatius. Foto: saaleha on flickr.com under CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

A shortcrust biscuit, often depicting images or figures from the story of St. Nicholas. These are traditionally eaten or baked on December 6th, which is Nikolaustag<\/em> (St. Nicholas Day) in Germany. You may also see it called Gew\u00fcrzspekulatius<\/em> \u2013 Spiced Spekulatius, if it contains spices.<\/p>\n

Which ones have you tried? Which one is your favourite?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vokabeln – Vocabulary:<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

Baking \u2013 das Backen<\/p>\n

Biscuit \u2013 das Pl\u00e4tzchen\/der Keks<\/p>\n

Icing (frosting) \u2013 der Zuckerguss<\/p>\n

Icing (powder) \u2013 der Puderzucker<\/p>\n

Chocolate \u2013 die Schokolade<\/p>\n

Marzipan \u2013 das Marzipan<\/p>\n

Spice \u2013 das Gew\u00fcrz<\/p>\n

Cinnamon \u2013 der Zimt<\/p>\n

Clove \u2013 die Nelke<\/p>\n

Cardamom \u2013 das Kardamom<\/p>\n

Nutmeg \u2013 die Muskatnuss<\/p>\n

Ginger \u2013 der Ingwer<\/p>\n

Lemon peel \u2013 die Zitronenschale<\/p>\n

Orange peel \u2013 die Orangenschale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Frohe Weihnachten! \u2026 Ok, so we\u2019re not quite that far yet. But last year I wrote a series of posts on German Christmas traditions, including the Christkind, and the German history of the Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree). What is there to cover this year, I thought, that hasn\u2019t been covered already? Well, my friends, there\u2019s food!…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":7491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,70,7,8,913],"tags":[7335,43,376024,95232,373888,95218,358444,95131,42221,376023,376079,95219,376080],"class_list":["post-6793","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-food","category-holidays","category-language","category-traditions","tag-baking","tag-christmas","tag-food","tag-frohliche-weihnachten","tag-german-christmas","tag-german-christmas-cake","tag-german-food","tag-german-language","tag-holidays-2","tag-language","tag-lebkuchen","tag-stollen","tag-weihnachtsplatzchen"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t