Friday, December 16, 2011

GERMAN COOKIES

As a child, my German grandmother and I  would make these honey-ginger (Honig Lebkuchen) cookies together;  except that we would just roll and then cut in circles.  We would pop them in the oven, and that is where everything would go wrong.  My grandmother was a lousy cook and would burn everything!  Recently, my cousin and I were talking about Grandma's cooking - he remembers the rubbery eggs and I remember the burnt cookies.  I didn't know German cookies could be good until I was grown and making them myself!
 I ordered the cookie cutter (shown in the top photo) from a German company about 35 years ago.  I also bought the paper Santas that match the shape of the cutter at the same time.
 The cookies are glazed, then a couple dots of frosting hold the non-edible papers on.  When my kids were in grade school, I use to visit their classes where I would have all the kids glaze the cookies and put the papers on to take home while we would talk about the German Christmas customs.  It was always great fun.  I don't make the Honig Lebkuchen like this very often anymore.  I only have enough paper Santas left to do about one more batch.  I can't find any place to order them anymore, so guess I'll have to resort to photocopying and cut each paper out individually.
And here they are -- all ready to hand out to friends and family.
I'll be joining Centsational Girl for her cookie party on Tuesday, Dec. 20.  Check it out for more goodies!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sally! Oh, what wonderful cookies and I love the paper cut out you're putting on the top! I've never seen these before. I had to giggle about your granny burning the cookies! ;)I think the only cookies my granny made were tea cakes! ;)
Be a sweetie,
Shelia :)

Susie Q said...

Sally! These are incredible! I miss my Grandma's cookies...no one seems to make them quite the same!
Hoping your Christmas season is going sweetly and that you will be surrounded by your loved ones!
Merry Christmas dear friend!
Love,
Sue

Anonymous said...

These are absolutely wonderful works of art, Sally!

Merry Christmas!

Sue said...

Sally, I've never seen this type of a paper decoration for a cookie! Yes, you really must make copies of these so you can have more for years to come. Good thing you can bake better than your grandmother. Your family will have fond memories of that! ;-) Merry, Merry! Sue

laloseke said...

Hi Sally,
I have the exact same cookie cutter-passed down from my mom. She used to get the santa papers from a bakery in Pittsburgh. When the bakery was going out of business, she bought all that they had. I make these every year and only have enough papers for a few more years. Any luck on finding a place to order them? I thought about making color copies, but will need to be on special paper. The paper they are printed on seems to be a bit waxy. I was searching for them online and found your blog.