German Christmas Cookies with Jam (Hildabrötchen Rezept) – This authentic German Christmas Cookies Recipe is our all-time favourite cookie recipe. It requires you a few ingredients and stays moist throughout the Christmas season. There are no words could describe how delicious this recipe is unless you try it yourself.
After living in Germany for more than 10 years, I can confidently say that I have my fair shares of German Christmas cookies . Before I started baking Christmas cookies, I would get gifts of Christmas cookies (if you live in Germany or you are a German, you probably know what I mean). Additionally, during Christmas season, everyone would offer you their Christmas pastries, each time you get invited.
German Christmas cookies are delicious, and the best Christmas pastries I have tasted are from my beloved mother-in-law (this is an honest opinion). She no longer bakes as much as she used to, in order to prevent her recipes from going lost, I have learnt many from her. Her secret to extremely delicious (I am sharing this with you today) German Christmas cookies is a good amount of butter.
That is also the biggest difference between her Christmas cookies and other cookies (gift or store-bought) I have tried. Not only do hers tasted far more delicious (okay, I know that I cannot stress this enough…), her German Christmas cookies stay moist for a long time. You would not realize that the cookies were a month old.
You are definitely in luck today because I am sharing my family’s all-time favourite authentic German Christmas cookies with jam recipe (Hildabrötchen Rezept).
Tips on making German Christmas Cookies
High quality butter: The amount and quality of butter is the last ingredient I would cut on because it makes a huge difference in taste. This is also the main reason why our German Christmas Cookies with jam stay moist for more than a month (if it is stored well and if we do not finish it before that). You can of course use any butter brand of your choice. Our favourite brand of butter remains the famous Irish Butter Kerrygold, which I mentioned before in this post (not sponsored). They are just pure goodness.
Budgeting-Tip: In Germany, the price of Kerrygold butter tends to be on the higher end. I always stock up on this brand of butter when it is on sales. By the time, another sales come along, I would be done with the first batch. Pssshhh… I have already stocked up at least 2 kg of butter in my refrigerator for my Christmas baking!
Butter at room temperature: Take out your butter from the fridge and leave it at the counter top a few hours before baking. It is simpler to work with room temperature butter than hard butter because it binds well with other ingredients. In addition, soft butter holds air well, which will result in light and fluffy German Christmas Cookies.
Cutting in method: This is a common method used in pastry making. Cutting butter into other ingredients to mix them together will result in flaky German Christmas cookies.
Chilling cookie dough: Allow the dough to rest for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. This would allow the dough to rest and the butter to solidify again. As a result, they hold up their shape better in the oven and intensify the taste.
How to make German Christmas Cookies
Pour all-purpose flour, sugar and vanilla sugar on your working top. Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients. Put an egg and butter into the hole. Use a knife and gently chop the ingredients to mix them. This is known as “gehackter Teig” in German. This step may take you some time. Once you get a dough, wrap the dough in cling wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
After the German Christmas cookies dough has rested, cut a small piece of the dough and wrap the rest of the dough to prevent it from drying. It is easier to work with small pieces of dough. Spread some flour on your working top and over your rolling pin. Roll your dough until about 0.5 mm thick. Due to the high butter content, use as much flour as you need to prevent the dough from sticking.
Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Use a single shot glass (roughly 4 cm diameter) and cut the dough into tiny circles. Mix the rest of the dough to the second piece of the German Christmas cookies dough. Repeat process until you have little to no dough left.
Place a parchment paper on top of the baking tray and place the cookie dough onto the tray. Space out the cookies evenly, so that they do not stick to each other during baking. Gently use a fork to poke a few holes into the cookies.
Bake Christmas cookies for around 8-10 minutes until they turn slightly brown on the bottom of the cookies. Depending on the size of your oven and tray, you may need to bake two batches of cookies. While the German Christmas cookies are baking, put icing sugar, water and lemon juice into a separate small bowl. Mix the ingredients thoroughly with a spoon to form a white icing.
Once the cookies finish baking, let the German Christmas cookies cool down for 1-2 minutes. While it is still hot, quickly spread some raspberry jam to one side of the cookie. Place an empty cookie on top of the cookie with jam, so that you will get a little “sandwich”. Be careful that the cookies are still hot. Quickly spread some white icing onto of the “sandwich” and place it on a cooling rack. Repeat until you have no cookies left.
Let the German Christmas Cookies with jam cool down completely before storing. Enjoy your cookies or send someone a gift! Do not forget to grab your gift tags printable below!
Free Christmas Printable
These customizable gift tags are perfect for the Christmas! They go well with this recipe or other gifts. The person who receives it will love it! Click on the link below. No email address required, no strings attached I promised!
How to serve German Christmas Cookies
Every Christmas season, I would bake at least four different types of Christmas and a cake. After lunch or during tea time, I always serve these delicious German Christmas cookies on a beautiful “Christmasy” plate with some hot beverages. These Hildabrötchen usually get eaten first because they are simply the best! You can also present it to someone as a gift!
How to store German Christmas Cookies
After taking out the cookies, allow the German Christmas cookies to cool down completely before storing it. This would prevent moisture being trapped in the storage box and turn the Christmas cookies into soggy cookies. We want moist texture and not soggy texture. Cooled cookies can be kept longer as well. I usually store my Christmas cookies in an airtight Christmas themed metal container and keep them in a cool place such as our cellar, which is cold enough especially during the cold seasons. They typically last for at least one month without turning hard, if we did not finish them before it lasts!
Have you tried this recipe? If yes, I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as my family does. Show me and tag me #chenguins on social media, so that I can see your recreation as well.
What is your favourite Christmas cookie recipe? Do you love winter as well? Tell me in the comment section below!
Until next time & guten Appetit!
Greetings from the Black Forest,
Pia
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Best Authentic German Christmas Cookies with Jam (Hildabrötchen Rezept)
Equipment
- Single shot glass
Ingredients you need
- 300 g All-Purpose Flour
- 125 g Sugar
- 1 Packet Vanilla Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 150 g Butter
Extra
- 100 g Raspberry Jam
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 2 tbsp Water
- 2 ml Lemon Juice
Directions
- Pour all-purpose flour, sugar and vanilla sugar on your working top.
- Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients. Put an egg and butter into the hole.
- Use a knife and gently chop the ingredients to mix them. This step may take you some time.
- Once you get a dough, wrap the dough in cling wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- After the German Christmas cookies dough has rested, cut a small piece of the dough and wrap the rest of the dough to prevent it from drying. It is easier to work with small pieces of dough.
- Spread some flour on your working top and over your rolling pin. Roll your dough until it is about 0.5 mm thick. Due to the high butter content, use as much flour as you need to prevent the dough from sticking. Preheat the oven to 190 °C.
- Use a single shot glass (roughly 4 cm diameter) and cut the dough into tiny circles. Mix the rest of the dough to the second piece of the German Christmas cookies dough. Repeat process until you have little to no dough left.
- Place a parchment paper on top of the baking tray and place the cookies onto the tray. Space out the cookies evenly, so that they do not stick to each other during baking. Gently use a fork to poke a few holes into the cookies. Bake Christmas cookies dough for around 8-10 minutes until they turn slightly brown on the bottom of the cookies. Depending on the size of your oven and tray, you may need to bake two batches of cookies.
- While the German Christmas cookies are baking, put icing sugar, water and lemon juice into a separate small bowl. Mix the ingredients thoroughly with a spoon to form a white icing.
- Once the cookies finish baking, let the German Christmas cookies cool down for 1-2 minutes. While it is still hot, quickly spread some raspberry jam to one side of the cookie. Place an empty cookie on top of the cookie with jam, so that you will get a little “sandwich”. Be careful that the cookies are still hot.
- Quickly spread some white icing onto of the “sandwich” and place it on a cooling rack. Repeat until you have no cookies left.
- Let the German Christmas Cookies with jam cool down completely before storing. In an airtight container, you can keep the cookies for more than a month in a cool, dry place. Improper storage will result in the cookies drying out and turning hard. Enjoy your cookies or send someone a gift!
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