Cookies Weekend

Last Sunday Mama and Syirah had a jolly good time baking cookies at Mama's colleague's house. Beate was welcoming the start of the Advent Sundays with the baking of Christmas cookies and lighting up the first of the four Advent candles and invited us to join her in dishing up delectable gems to be eaten during this period. It was a cosy affair which ended with a German board game while sipping hot tea and munching cookies fresh from the oven. Bliss...

The first candle was lit.

Various shapes of cookie cutters which the girls enjoyed experimenting with.

Beate's daughter, Robin and Syirah were entrusted to make Spitzbuben all by themselves from start to finish but they didn't quite finish it.

Nasib baik Beate ada 2 mixing bowls, so just queue up for the mixer to do its magic.

Hasil kerja tangan Robin & Syirah. They were happily rolling and cutting their first batch of cookies dan seperti yang dijangkakan, lepas tu both of them vanished to the garden playing with snow and trying to save some fish in the small pool in the garden by moving them to the deeper section. So the mumsies had to finish their job including the other cookies below.

Kokosmakronen aka Coconut Macaroons (kind of like a meringue cookie made by beating egg white, sugar and mixing in loads of dessicated coconuts)

Spitzbuben fresh from the oven waiting to be dusted with icing sugar.

Vanille Kipferl ready to be "ngap-ed". Rasa macam biskut Ma'amor kita but crunchier.

While the mumsies berminyak-minyak muka busy cleaning up, the two girls were clowning around below.

We had fun playing this. Can't remember the name of the game but it's about building up your collection of old cards by going to the auction house to buy them using a cheque or by using your thief to steal them..ho..ho..ho... but be careful ada detective engaged by your opponents who can catch your thief and put him in jail! Robin won this game, Mama got 2nd placing.

2 tins of cookies for us to take home. I must say we like both the Vanilla Kipferl and Spitzbuben...crunchy and nutty without being too sweet. The Coconut Macaroons were a letdown. I suppose it's unfair competition considering that we are not a great fan of coconuts.

Christmas cookies dia sedap jugak. Nothing fancy schmancy stuff like biskut Raya kita but can be very addictive especially the Vanilla Kipferl and Spitzbuben. Easy peasy nak buat, just dump everything dalam mixer until a soft dough is formed. Then shape as one pleases. Hakeem finished almost all the cookies except for the Kokosmakronen that Beate bekalkan for us in one sitting when we got back to the house. Dia suruh buat lagi, so next weekend we'll make more and Hakeem will get to join in playing around cutting the cookies into shapes and eating loads of cookie dough which he loves doing. Mana la budak tu tak chubby! Ini recipe kalau anybody nak try buat.

Vanille Kipferl

140 gm butter
50 gm icing sugar
70 gm ground hazelnuts
210 gm plain flour
2 tsp vanilla essence/powder
some vanilla sugar and icing sugar for dusting

1.Mix all the ingrediensts together except for the sugar for dusting until soft dough is formed.
2.Using hands, shape dough into crescents.
3.Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown.
4.Remove from oven and dust with lots of vanilla and icing sugar while still hot.

Spitzbuben

375 gm plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
200 gm sugar
1 pack vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla essence
120 gm ground hazelnuts
250 gm butter
1 egg white
150 gm jam or gelee of any flavour
icing sugar for dusting

1.Mix everything except for the jam and icing sugar for dusting until dough is formed.

2.Rest in refrigerator for 1 hour.

3.Roll out and cut into shapes using cookie cutters.
4.Bake at 180 degrees for 18 minutes or until golden brown.
5.Remove from oven.
6.Put dollops of jam/gelee between cut out cookies, press them down together and dust with icing sugar.