I learned this Zimtsterne recipe from Lilly of Lilly’s German Bakery. It’s a family favorite that she grew up with and I was so excited to get to bake this authentic recipe together with her in my St. Louis kitchen.

Ingredients

Zimtsterne are gluten-free cookies made without any all-purpose flour. The main ingredient is ground almonds. You can grind your own in a food processor or purchase almond meal.

They are wonderful plain – the honey gives them an exceptional fruity and floral flavor! However, you can decorate them with sanding sugar (as I’ve done here) or ice them.

Ingredients

These cookies are made with just six ingredients and they are all basic pantry staples: all-purpose flour, butter, an egg, salt, vanilla extract, and honey.

This Christmas Bark makes for a wonderful homemade holiday gift. Who wouldn’t love the gift of chocolate for Christmas or the New Year?!

Ingredients

To make this Christmas bark, you’ll need:

Ginger molasses cookies have been around since the 1800s – and with good reason. They are easy to make, so festive, and don’t require rolling out dough or using any special tools like cookie press recipes do. I can’t even begin to fathom the number of these cookies that have been made over the past 100 years!

Ingredients

These cookies are made using pantry staples and gingerbread spices (ginger, cinnamon, and cloves).

These are some of the easiest cut out cookies to make – even a beginner cookie decorator can succeed with these easy holiday sugar cookies!

Jenny Keller, author of the popular cookbooks Eat More Dessert [paid link] and Cookie Class [paid link] and owner of the destination bakery Jenny Cookies Bake Shop in Washington state, is kind enough to share her perfect sugar cookie recipe, baking tips, and decorating technique here.

You have probably heard ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas several hundred times, but if you are like me, you may not have stopped to find out just what a sugar plum is after hearing the verse:

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

Read the full article here]]> https://www.cupcakeproject.com/sparkly-sugar-plums-for-christmas/feed/ 15 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/5-reasons-to-ditch-eggnog-and-choose-syllabub/ https://www.cupcakeproject.com/5-reasons-to-ditch-eggnog-and-choose-syllabub/#comments Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:45:30 +0000 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/?p=20750 Syllabub is an English cocktail most popular from the 16th to 19th centuries. It has a frothed top made from milk whisked with sugar, cider, spices, and cream, and it tastes somewhat like eggnog. I think it’s even better.

I am going to go out there and state that you should make this cocktail because it’s better than eggnog. Here are five definitive reasons why I feel that way:

1. The recipe as it was originally written calls for a mix of hard cider, milk, cream, and nutmeg, sweetened with a little sugar. Syllabub tastes like a cross between an apple cream pie and eggnog. However, you can make one with any alcohol – many people use wine with some lemon or a combination of wine and brandy. You have options, while you don’t really have any when you make eggnog.
2. There are no eggs. While some recipes do call for eggs, they are by no means a requirement. Not having to deal with eggs while still achieving a frothy, boozy drink is a huge win.
3. Alexander Hamilton would most likely have have been drinking it. (See the whole story by my contributor, Jess Touchette, below.) If you are a musical and/or history buff or are serving one, this drink is a must!
4. The drink was traditionally served in its own special type of glassware. The glasses were wide at the top to hold the cream and narrower at the bottom (see Food History Jottings for a nice example). You can find the glassware at antique shops and then give the recipe and a couple of glasses as a totally unique holiday gift. The glasses that we used in the photos aren’t quite right, but they work. Feel free to get a little creative.
5. Syllabub is simply a fun word to say. (True, nog is a fun word to say, too, but it’s overplayed.)

Now that you fully comprehend how much I love this drink, let’s move on to special instructions and some information about the drink’s history (courtesy of contributor Jess Touchette).

Read the full article here]]> https://www.cupcakeproject.com/5-reasons-to-ditch-eggnog-and-choose-syllabub/feed/ 4 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/turtle-cheesecake-cookies/ https://www.cupcakeproject.com/turtle-cheesecake-cookies/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2020 19:07:20 +0000 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/?p=16471 These cream cheese cookies have pillowy interiors and a strong vanilla flavor. My friends described them as the cookie version of gooey butter bars!

They have just a few ingredients and come together so easily. Dust them with powdered sugar for a perfect presentation.

Read the full article here]]> https://www.cupcakeproject.com/turtle-cheesecake-cookies/feed/ 9 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/cookie-tree/ https://www.cupcakeproject.com/cookie-tree/#respond Thu, 19 Dec 2019 18:28:53 +0000 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/?p=35342 Cookie trees work so well as dessert table centerpieces! While you can make them with any kind of cookies, I find that madeleines look particularly beautiful. Below, I share how I make my holiday tree! 

Building the Tree

I make my tree using two different kinds of madeleines:

Read the full article here]]> https://www.cupcakeproject.com/cookie-tree/feed/ 0 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/homemade-peanut-butter-oat-dog-biscuits/ https://www.cupcakeproject.com/homemade-peanut-butter-oat-dog-biscuits/#comments Thu, 05 Dec 2019 17:20:26 +0000 https://www.cupcakeproject.com/?p=18385 Homemade peanut butter dog treats are a special way to show your love for your four-legged family members. They are really easy to make and a fun project for kids to help out with.

If you have a dog, you most likely already know that most dogs LOVE peanut butter. So, these treats should make your pooch very happy!

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