Hello everyone,
and welcome to day 6 of our Advent Calendar, and after yesterday’s theory stuff it’s time for a little leisure.
I want to tell you a bit about something that belongs to the German Christmas season like the common cold belongs to winter – you’re lucky to make it through without it. Get ready for… oh no… please noooo
Stop it. Go away, song!
I want to talk about
Plätzchen
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I think it’s ironic, finding this post after taking about Dubai Schokolade. They look really nice, and I can imagine how fun it is to bake them!
Guten Nikolaus Tag, Emanuel. Enjoy your Plätzchen, in both baking and eating.
That is so sweet! Love it!
Freut mich :)!
sorry i messed up the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToeuKXQwuMo
Dang it. Cookies without baking? That’s really lazy :D. Thanks for sharing that. By the way… what accent does she have. I guess it’s somewhere south-east of the US but I hear a LOT of British in there,too (just my very personal impression. I might be totally off).
That’s definitely an American accent. Sounds a bit Appalachian to me, maybe, but I’m no expert. I know a lot of people with similar accents, at any rate. :)
I know these as “no-bake” cookies, by the way. That could be a Yankee-ism…
Let me try some dialect… “Them cookies, they’s a drying.”
Virginia .. in her case, southwest Virginia. The dialect is special in that it has touches of ‘Old English’, but it’s not completely unique; some Canadians speak similarly, as do some Scandinavians when speaking English. I once mistook some Danish gentlemen for Virginians because of the British influence on their speech. Their pronunciation of ‘about’ sounded more like ‘aboot’, for example.
I think in the US ( at least in my family) we roll out and cut sugar cookie dough. Its similar to this but the finished product is usually a bit softer ( not crispy or crunchy). Also it is not Christmas without a few dozen chocolate chip cookies and at least one batch of Preacher Cookies. I will go ahead and assume you don’t know what a Preacher Cookie is and link a video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToeuKXQ
The story is ( have no idea if its true) that they are called Preacher cookies because he in the South (yee-haw rebel yell etc LOL) preachers used to expect to be fed if they stopped by your home to check on you. And (according to the story) the cookies could be made so fast that you could make them before the preacher made it from the car to your door.
Happy Holidays! and thanks for all the great content you provide.
soothing? …….or creepy? :)
There’s a fine line between those :). Like here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxgcV4NItGA
I’m loving this Advent calendar. Thanks for doing it!!!! ^ – ^
Sorry, aber vanillekipferl sind die besten!!
Und aber auch die schwierigsten (hab ich mal gehört)
Kommt drauf was für n Rezept du verwendest ;)
Ich habe dieses aus einem heftigen deutschen Rezeptbuch gelernt, geht so-:
200g Butter
250g Mehl
100g gemahlene Mandeln
150g Vanille Zucker
Schritte:
Verrühre alles zusammen, aber nur 1/2 des Zuckers. Knete alles durch, in Klarsichtfolie einlegen & im Tiefkühlkost 15 Minutenlang einlassen. Nimm das raus & Falte es. Daraus, mach Kipferl Formen, leg auf den Blech & im Ofen vorgeheizt 180°C 12 Minutenlang kochen lassen.
Wenn sie raus & bisschen hart sind, Rolle jede Keks in den Zucker . Dann Iss!
(Hier gibt es kein Ei, aber ist mir noch besser, meine Freunde können das Essen. Viel Spaß beim backen ^^)
Yes, they are!!
How beautiful. Thank you for sharing
We had an exchange student, Manfred. At Christmas, Manfred’s mother mailed Plaetzchen. They were utterly amazing and I wanted to eat the whole shipment. She sent a lot!! They were exquisitely beautiful and delicious. It inspired me to bake my own though the years.
Hah… yeah, some people are be real Plätzchen experts. My mom is a piano teacher and every year she gets home made Plätzchen from one family. And those are really impressive. Super divers and all delicious. I can’t imagine how much work went into those. I’m not a big Plätzchen fan but if they’re well made, they can be a REAL joy.
Danke schoen !
From the West Coast of America, this does sound a lot like the Pfeffernuse we had a Christmas, except for the burning part. Similar tradition here are cookie decorating parties, where the kids vie with the grownups to see who can make the prettiest cookie with out eating them immediately.
Do you call them Pfeffernüsse in English? And just to make sure, here’s what they look like in Germany:
https://www.google.de/search?q=pfeffern%C3%BCsse&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=580&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEguTJgeDQAhVH2ywKHfLdAF0Q_AUIBigB
Is it the same in the US or did the word get changed along the way.
Yes, the small round cookies with the white icing–that’s Pfeffernüsse–the only name I*ve known them by. My family is from the west coast, a small farming community south of the Bay Area. The dark color comes from using ”old honey”–it must be at least 1 year old. ”New” honey isn’t dark enough. The flavor is from toasted and finely ground almonds, with finely chopped citron and candied lemon peel. and the spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace and allspice. The dough is kneaded two to three times a day for 3 days, then the leavening agent is added.
My dad’s side of the family is from the Midwest (South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas) and I know them as Pfeffernuss in English too.
Although now I’m trying to remember if I know them from that side of the family more or from my maternal grandmother, who was half Pennsylvania Dutch (i.e. not Dutch but German).
We make pfeffernuse [the receipe written by my late Father uses u not ü]. He was a baker and got the receipe from his first partner in business who was from Switzerland. We make them small, bite size–and they are addictive with coffee in the morning.
Oh yeah, I love Pfeffernüsse. And yes, I know what you mean with the coffee. Hard to stop.
Ich finde die Lebkuhen besser, aber Ich kann sie nicht machen ;(
Ich mag die auch lieber, aber die sind viel schwerer. Ich hab’s noch nie probiert.
The ubiquitous holiday cookie in the US is the ‘cutout’–a sugar cookie made with various shapes of cookie cutters pressed into rolled dough. Often it’s the kids who decorate the baked cookies–usually overloaded with colorful frosting and encrusted with sugars and sprinkles. The adults in the room avoid these at all costs and reach for another rum ball…
So basically like here :). Is making these cookies as common as in Germany?
I’d say it’s close, but probably much more a kid thing to do.
my mom and now my wife make this sugar cookies every Christmas. It is very popular for kids to help. I’ve never heard of cookie baking parties here though although they might exist. I have a feeling they are probably just as common in the U.S. as in Germany. At least where I live in Pittsburgh, PA. We do have a large population of people with German ancestry here though.
A way to say something pleasant about something you do not like without lying is to say they are “tasty” As in Ummm. These are tasty!” You are not saying what they taste like. You are Welcome!
Guten Tag, Emanuel! Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas I enjoy the foods and the sights of the holiday and I especially enjoy reading your daily advent calendar posts. Love your blog, keep up the great work !!! :-)
Cool, glad to hear that :)
Danke! Es war eine ganze schöne Nikolausüberraschung.
Well, if the Christmas, sorry, Holiday cookie has marzipan on it, what’s not to like?
What’s wrong with Christmas cookie. Why won’t you let it stand? Why do you hate Christmas so much ;D
I don’t “hate Christmas”. It’s just that Christians aren’t the only people who make cookies during the holidays, so “holiday cookies” seems more inclusive. I make it a practice not to hate anyone.
I know :). I just thought you were referring to the whole crazy Christmas vs Holiday “controversy” that’s going on in the states at the moment. Like… people praising Trump because he said “Christmas” instead of “holiday”
Beautiful video. I do not think I could get as far as the baking process, I would have eaten them all by then.
The commentary showed how pleasant the language can sound.
But it was a little depressing, showing me how little German I actually understand.
Your comment makes me feel more normal, thank you.