Baking German Christmas Cookies

Like it or not, Christmas is fast approaching and it is time to start planning what to bake. To help you out with this I have gathered up my Christmas cookie (Plaetzchen) posts and reposted them here for you to drool over browse through.

As German as this sounds, planning really is the key. 

Chessboard Cookies and Black & White Spirals 

Austrian Hazelnut Cookies 

Cinnamon Snowmen

Vanilla Crescents

Iced Butter Cookies - great for making with children 

Coconut Macaroons - quick, easy and very handy for using up leftover egg whites from other recipes 

If you have any questions, comment and I'll reply. Happy baking! Fionnuala 

Flavour of the Month: Banana Chocolate Chip

We haven't been baking much. We've been too busy getting back to school. But what we have baked has been banana chocolate chip flavour. 

Over the years, the boys, and in saying that I include The Bavarian, have become very limited in the cakes they request. Brownies, carrot cake and coconut tray bake are their usual requests when I make the mistake of asking what they'd like. The only times of year they ask for biscuits are Advent and Easter. 

But recently they took me very much by surprise by asking for a banana and chocolate cake with coconut sprinkles. When I mentioned having to look up a recipe, Number One decided to play the parent on me and said "Before you do that, I have three questions for you". 

Me: OK

Him: Have you ever made banana cake or bread?

Me: Of course

Him: Have you ever made chocolate cake?

Me: You know I have

Him: Aha, and have you ever put coconut sprinkles on a cake or on buns?

Me, finally seeing where this is going: Yes

Him: So what do you need a recipe for? You can do it.

Pep talk over, he put on his coat and went to school, safe in the knowledge that his capable mother wouldn't let him down and knowing that Number Two was still at home to ensure I didn't try to change the plan. 

What the boys didn't now was that I have a recipe for a chocolate chip banana cake  in one of my notebooks. But under the watchful eye of Number Two I didn't feel I could go rooting it out and using it. We made a basic bun mixture, mashed in one and a half bananas, stirred in about 100g of chopped dark chocolate and baked it as a tray bake. When it was cool, I cut it in half and make a sandwich cake with chocolate ganache in the middle and on top. The whole thing got a good dusting of coconut and I awaited the verdict. 

It looked far from spectacular, but the boys loved it, as did our visitors. We were hard put to keep a slice over for The Bavarian, but he was very pleased we did. I am under instruction to make it again. 

A couple of days later, with the cake still fresh in our minds, I saw that Sinead from Bumbles of Rice had posted the recipe for her banana oat cookies with chocolate chips. I mentioned the combination to Number Two and he insisted we try them straight away. It was 8.45am. Normally at that time on a kindergarten morning I would try to put him off immediate baking, but these seemed so quick that we could get them made and baked before having to leave the hosue at 9.20am. And we did. 

Number Two did most of the work, starting with chopping chocolate into chunks. "I'll just taste it to make sure it is still good" is his catchphrase for these kind of jobs.

Mixing the banana, oats and chocolate chunks was a tougher job than Number Two thought. Luckily he had his Batman bicycle glove on to protect his hand, as you do while baking.

The mixture needed a final beating by mammy's strong hand to get the consistency right before being dolloped onto the baking tray.

After 12-15 minutes the cookies were ready to remove from the oven. They taste best left to cool fully and crisp up a bit on the outside. 

Number Two promptly packed a few straight into his lunchbox for kindergarten. Then he made the mistake of tasting them still warm. "Yuck" was his first reaction. Later in the day when he noticed me, Number One and Number Three tucking in, he gave them another go. This time round he enjoyed them better. So much so that we made another batch after dinner. 

So that's been our flavour of the month. I wonder what next month will bring.

Chunky, Chewy, Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today, on a whim, I made a batch of extra large, chewy cookies with big chunks of chocolate. Eating them in the garden with a mug of coffee in my hand and The Bavarian at my side, watching Number 1 and Number 2 chat about fishing, enjoying the sunshine while Number 3 dozed in the pram was bliss.

Quantities to follow shortly.

Cream butter, sugar and oil.

Beat in eggs and cornflour

Add chocolate, flour and baking powder then mix to combine.

Dollop mixture onto baking tray, leaving space for the cookies to expand.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 200°C. Cool on tray for ten minutes, then tuck in.