German Christmas Cookies (Plätzchen)

⏳ Time

1 hour

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

This recipe is adapted from a German website and has been tested many times. This amount of dough yields at least 80 cookies. It doesn’t get a chance to sit for a couple of days to reach the desired condition: it gets eaten within those couple of days. Optionally, divide the dough into two or three parts. Optionally, add additional ingredients (spices, nuts, cocoa, etc.) to the dough. If dividing the dough into several parts, different ingredients can be added to each part, allowing for different cookies to be baked at once.

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 17.6 oz
Baking Powder - 2 teaspoons
Vanilla salt - to taste
Salt - a pinch
Powdered Sugar - 7.1 oz
Farm fresh eggs - 2 pieces
Butter - 8.8 oz

Step by Step guide

Step 1

In a bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add the softened butter (or margarine), 1 packet of vanilla sugar, and the remaining ingredients, mixing them into a uniform dough by hand or with a mixer. Be careful, it will stick to your hands! This is the basic dough, which can be used to make various cookies.

Step 2

Place the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour or longer.

Step 3

Preheat the oven to 356°F.

Step 4

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, roll it out, and cut out cookies.

Step 5

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cookies on it.

Step 6

Bake the cookies in the oven for 15–20 minutes (depending on thickness and added ingredients, as well as the specifics of the oven). Let the finished cookies cool. According to German traditions, the cookies should sit for a couple of days.