The most delicious German Christmas tradition: “Plätzchenbacken”
All over Germany families are enjoying the “Adventszeit” and everyone has their own traditions, but one thing that is part of anyone's Christmas preparations is the obligatory “Plätzchenbacken”.
The history of “Plätzchen” already existed in medieval times, where Winter was difficult due to shortages in food supply and preservation. Traditional “Plätzchen” are mainly made out of flour, nuts, butter, etc. all ingredients that are nutritious and durable.
Also, many monasteries prepared special “Gebäck” in honor of the “Jesuskind” and distributed these baked treats among the poor. During the centuries baking “Plätzchen” became a Christmas tradition in Germany and today many different variations exist.
In this post we will share a very traditional recipe with you, that is one of the classics and most popular “Plätzchen” in Germany: Butterplätzchen.
“Zutaten”: (Vocabulary see below)
250 g Mehl
2 Prisen Backpulver
80 g Zucker
1 Päckchen Vanillezucker
1 Teelöffel Zitronenschale (Bio-Zitrone)
1 Prise Salz
1 Eigelb
150 g Butter
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celcius.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a “Rührschüssel”.
Add the lemon peel and make sure to evenly mix it with all the other dry “Zutaten”, so that there are no clumps of lemon peel left.
Make a little “Mulde” in the middle and add the egg yolk.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add them as well.
Now begin to “kneten” everything together, this will take some time since the butter will slowly head up with the warmth of your hands and begin to form a crumbly dough.
If necessary, add a little canola or any other oil to make the dough a little smoother.
Put a little flour on a clean surface and start rolling out the dough to 4-5 mm thickness.
Now take your “Ausstechformen” of choice and cut out your “Plätzchen”, placing them on a baking tray.
Place them in the middle section of your oven and bake for 8- 10 minutes.
Let them cool and then cover with powdered sugar or dip them into chocolate. If you want to use “Streusel” use egg yolk with a little milk, coat the Christmas cookies with it, and add the sprinkles before you put them in the oven to bake, that makes the sprinkles stick to the cookie best.
Have fun and enjoy!
—> Let us know in the comments if you made them and if you like them!
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Vocabulary:
die Adventszeit – the Advent time
Plätzchen backen - baking (Christmas) Cookies
Plätzchen - Cookie, but other than “Keks” (= cookie) “Plätzchen” is only used to describe Christmas cookies
das Gebäck - baked goods
das Jesuskind - baby Jesus
die Zutat (Pl. die Zutaten) – the ingredients
das Mehl - flour
eine Prise - a pinch
das Backpulver - the baking soda
das Päckchen - small package
der Vanillezucker – the vanilla sugar
der Teelöffel - teaspoon
die Zitronenschale - lemon peel
das Salz – the salt
das Eigelb – the egg yolk
die Butter - the butter
die Rührschüssel – the mixing bowl
die Mulde - hollow
kneten - to knead
die Ausstechform (Pl. die Ausstechformen) – the cookie cutter(s)
Streusel – sprinkles (used without article)