These beautiful and delicious cookies, known as Zimtsterne in their native Germany, are perfect for the holidays. They are naturally gluten and dairy free and they make excellent use of egg whites, both as a binder and as meringue to decorate the cookies in the traditional way. Because of the long, slow bake, it’s best to get these into the oven in one batch if at all possible.
We talk you through making these German Cinnamon Star Cookies in Episode 266 of our podcast. If you enjoy these cookies, you may also like our recipes for Easy Drop Sugar Cookies and Italian Cherry Thumbprint Cookies.
Ingredients
2 ½ cups powdered sugar (1 ¼ cups for the cookie dough, and 1 ¼ cups for the egg whites)
2 ½ cups almond flour, plus ½ cup in reserve if needed
1 tsp cinnamon
4 egg whites
1-2 teaspoons of rum (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 250º F (120º C)
In a large bowl, combine half of the powdered sugar, the almond flour, and the cinnamon and whisk until well-combined. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and continue to beat until the sugar is fully incorporated and the eggs whites are billowy and hold peaks.
Scoop out 1 cup of the egg whites and chill in a covered bowl, or in a squeeze bottle that will make decorating easier.
Add the almond mixture and optional rum to the rest of the egg white mixture and fold in thoroughly, until a dough forms. If the dough is too wet and sticky, add some of the reserved almond flour until the dough holds together. Chill for half an hour.
Prepare your work surface for rolling out the cookies. Sprinkle some powdered sugar, then, in your usual manner, roll out the dough until it’s around ¼ inch thick. I like to roll out on parchment paper with another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. Cut out your star shaped cookies, then reroll the dough scraps and cut more. Repeat as necessary.
Place the cookies on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silpats, place the cookies. Use a squeeze bottle, small pastry brush, or even a spoon to cover the star with the chilled meringue.
Place the cookie sheets into your preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. When they’re finished, leave them in the oven but open the door a bit, and let the meringue dry out for another 10 minutes or so. Cool completely and enjoy!