How are you all feeling today? Any better? No? Me neither. But it's December 2nd and the first Advent has already come and gone and so I have a little distraction for all of us. Drumroll……
BAKING.
Surprise!
But actually, it really does kind of work, at least momentarily. It keeps you busy, and off the internet, not just while you're plannning which cookies to make, and writing ingredient lists, and going grocery shopping. But also while you mix and beat and chop and bake. Then you get to assemble your masses of cookies, in cellophone bags or aluminum tins or perhaps little cardboard boxes wrapped up with string. And we haven't even gotten to the part where you have to decide whom to give the cookies too! You're looking at at least a week's worth of distraction in total. At least! Pretty good, huh? I'll say.
So let's do another giveaway, shall we? Let's get our minds off the end of the world. Leave me a comment here listing what your favorite Christmas baking list looks like and I'll pick a winner on Sunday. The winner gets a signed (and personalized) copy of Classic German Baking, an assortment of German baking ingredients (candied citrus peels, poppy seeds, marzipan, various raising agents, and mixed Lebkuchen spice) plus a jar of my homemade Pflaumenmus, which will hopefully motivate the winner (and at least a few other of you?) to bake the Lebkuchen-Powidltatschkerln – little rye cookie pockets filled with plum jam – in the Christmas chapter. I love those little babies – we discovered them in a magazine while on a "research" trip to Austria last year. They're soft and tangy and spicy and delicious. Spread the word!
(If anyone is wondering, my baking list would include those plum jam rye cookies, nutty Spekulatius, Pfeffernüsse, Basler Brunsli and Springerle, which I'll be making with Joanie next week and – if all goes according to plan – filming! In some capacity. We'll see. It'll probably be terrible. But also hopefully a little useful? Oh! And I've committed to the most insane thing ever: providing enough homemade slabs of Lebkuchen to make gingerbread houses with Hugo and FOUR of his little friends. Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking either. Hold me?)
In other news, the Washington Post recently included Classic German Baking in their round-up of the year's best cookbooks, writing "This overdue guide is a happy marriage of European craft and American sensibilities." Which made me want to marry the Washington Post in a happy marriage of my own.
On Food52's gorgeously illustrated guide to global holiday sweets, I was thrilled to get to contribute a little piece on Elisenlebkuchen (with recipe).
On Tastebook, I was interviewed about Classic German Baking, plus asked to talk a little bit about the three cookbooks I'm currently cooking from.
Deutsche Welle interviewed me on some of the nitty-gritty aspects of writing the cookbook, including my recipe for Brezeln (soft pretzels).
The loveliest cookbook store in Seattle, Book Larder, asked me 11 questions about food memories, my food heroes and favorite cookbooks.
But the most important thing I wanted to write about today is actually about the biggest complaint I've gotten on the cookbook so far: the relatively low number of food photos. For a variety of reasons, it just wasn't feasible for every recipe, or even every other recipe, to get its own photo. I did my very best to write the recipes as tightly and carefully as I could, so that home bakers would get good results without a photo guiding them. But I understand the frustration of some. So I've put together a list of every recipe in the book with an accompanying photograph – where I could, this will get updated going forward – and have posted them on a separate page which is accessible by clicking on the "Classic German Baking Photos" link under the book image that you see over in the right sidebar. It's a little clunky, but I hope it satisfies the need for visuals in the book and can be a helpful resource for all of you. Feel free to let your friends who have the book know about this. Thank you!
UPDATE: Nora is the winner and has been notified. Thank you so much for participating! Happy baking to all – you are an inspiration!
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300 responses to “A Classic German Baking Giveaway, plus Classic German Baking Photos!”
My baking list is all cookies! Can’t wait to get into the Christmas spirit and make lots of traditional holiday sweets. Some recipes I can’t wait to try are triple ginger molasses cookies and Russian tea cakes. Yum! I’d be even more excited to bring my German heritage into the kitchen with some classic German baking 🙂
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Polish cheesecake made with original “twarog” – a strong flavour, sweet and sour, with raisins and a hint of vanilla. Grandma always made a big portion for Christmas.
Gingerbreads, very spicy and aromatic, with my own spicemix and natural honey. I make them three weeks before Christmas and waiting…
Fruitcake (keks), it has to be very colorful with candied fruit, cake from my husband’s family home.
The most important are ingredients – preparing from Chistmas cooking and baking I do with really joy.
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My 3 daughters have become excellent bakers, and we all love to make and eat snickerdoodles, with red & green sugar decorating the outsides, of course! This year, I want to honor our partially German heritage, and will make Lebkuchen. After thet, Dutch butter cookies (shortbread-like) and many variations of chocolate chip cookies and bars! Christmas is also my husband’s and our son’s birthdays, their birthday cake is golden layers with dark chocolate frosting, the way dear Mom always made it! Blessed Christmas to all, and Hanukkah, too!
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With a two year old and a six month old, we’re calling it a victory this year to bake and decorate rolled out sugar cookies. Merry Christmas Luisa!
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Can’t wait to make Pfeffernüsse, and Lebkuchen. Brought some home from a visit to Germany years ago and they are lovely. Hope I can do them justice! Your book would help immensely 🙂
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I made mince meat, so mince pies will feature. Other than that, Betmaennchen ( unless my boyfriend uses up all the nice German marzipan for decorating his Christmas cake!), and my Oma’s Muerbeteigkekse.
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I’m writing in hopes of securing an extra copy for a gift!
Since we are a blended family (Jewish/German/Japanese), I bake rougelach (with a cream, not cream cheese dough), I’ve taken to making black & white cookies (Dorie’s World Peace and Heidi Swanson’s vanilla bean), and of course Klaben! Plus a few from your book!
Wishing you and your family a festive holiday season.
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My list: honey, walnuts and anise “cookies” (called “broas” in portuguese), pumpkin flan, biscotti, cinamon and Port wine rolls and apfel marzipan kuchen.
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Lots of cookies! Love the citrus flavored ones and my kids love gingerbread. I hust learned about lebkuchen, which I am looking forward to add to the baking list.
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Okay, my holiday baking isn’t as elaborate as some, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less delicious. I do two kinds of shortbread refrigerator cookies, one with sliced almonds and one with poppyseeds, and a loaf or two of cranberry orange bread. We also have a xmas eve tradition of making homemade pizza, so that also gets baked even though it’s not sweet. And then there are bagels on holiday mornings — they’re bagel-shop-bought, but still baked by someone! Thanks so much for the giveaway opportunity!
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Always many varieties of biscotti, because I can make them in my sleep (and do), but I really want to make lebkuchen since my once Berlin-based husband doesn’t remember them being as good as they are when homemade.
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my grandmother’s Mandel Brot
ginger cake
chocolate brownies
Irish Soda Bread
apple cake
…would love to add some German specialties to my personal catalogue. I visited Germany for the first time this past summer and could not get enough of the baked goods (the plum cake and bread in particular!)
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My list: chocolate bread pudding with salted caramel sauce, hazelnut creme brulee, “escangalhado” (similar to Christstollen but without candied fruit, only nuts and raisins it’s a portuguese version that it is more moist and yummy) and olive oil, honey and anise “broas” (portuguese soft “cookies”)
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I think my ideal would be: pfeffernüss, panettone, pain perdu filled with citrus creme patissiere and lebkuchen.
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I typically make two kinds of shortbread (one plain, one with chocolate and pecans) and Finnish spice cookies. Then I add one or two things that are different each year – I haven’t picked for this year yet.
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I haven’t started baking yet, but I’ve written my list:
Vanillekipferl
Engelsaugen
Fruechtebrot (your recipe)
Ingwerplaetzchen
Zitronentaler
Lebkuchen
Ausstecherle (mostly for the kids so they can help cut out the cookies and decorate)
Stollenkonfekt (your recipe)
The problem is that so far, I haven’t been in the mood for anything Christmas-sy at all, neither baking, nor decorating. Too much gloom in the world? I don’t know. It’s probably time to just start and jump into baking, especially since baking always makes me feel good. Usually we also have an (expat German) ladies’ night out at a friend’s house during Advent where we bake together, share recipes, take home a bunch of cookies, and have a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to that.
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gingerbread and spritz are always in the mix.
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Shortbread, gingerbread, and peppermint bark for sure is on the list. We recently visited Siena and now I am dreaming of making pan forte. With two small ones underfoot it may or may not happen this year!
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This year it’s going to be your sour cherry streusel cake and checkerboard cookies, plus Russian tea cakes and chocolate crinkles!
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biscochitos and cutout sugar cookies! going to have a little baking party with my mom tomorrow 🙂
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I have your book already! But it would make a great present. I’m hoping to try out Lebkuchen, Elisenkuchen, Speculatius, and Springerle. I have wooden molds from when I lived in Germany many years ago that I’ve never used. I worked at a bakery there and the Speculatius dough was pressed through a big roller to get printed with the designs. And we made Baumkuchen on a spit, ladling the batter over a long, rotating dowel. I’m so happy to see a way to make Baumkuchen at home in your book! That’s one of my favorites. The Biberle and Lebkuchen-Powidltatschkerln both look interesting and delicious too!
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Cornflake cookies and spiced pecans
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It looks something like: sugar cookies rolled in colored sugar, ginger snaps, Santa’s Whiskers, chocolate sugar cookie dough for decorated cutouts, & cherry/almond slices. Finances this year leave the list tighter than usual, but still good.
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First I must say that I absolutely love your book. I have already made the Biberle, the Leckerli, and the dough for the Lebkuchen, and although I made those first two already so that they could ripen for Christmas, I simply can’t help but eat a couple every day. Hopefully there will be some left on the 24th. I have been baking Leckerli for years and I must tell you that your recipe is far superior to the previous one I used. I usually make about eight kinds of cookies for our Christmas eve celebration but this year, thanks to you, there will be far more. I even went ahead and ordered a mould to try my hand at Springerle. In addition to trying as many of your recipes asI can, I will be making many of my old standbys, Coconut Macaroons, Swedish Spritz, Austrian Ischler Tartlets, Pizzelle and Zimtsterne. Luisa, your book is a masterpiece. It is the first book I have ever pre-ordered. I knew by reading here about all the work you had put into it ,that it would be full of solid recipes, and it has exceeded my expectations. Thank you so much for these recipes which I will use again and again.
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Gingerbread, shortbread, and buckeye candies (ok, that last one isn’t really baking). Wanting to break out of my rut and try something new this year, though!
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Gingersnaps, sugar cookies and rugelach are on my list!
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It’s my older girls first Christmas where she is big enough to really participate in things (she is nearly 3), so we are doing lots of cookie cutter cookies. Smitten Kitchen Deb’s brownie roll out cookies are our favorite!
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This is my most precious time for remembering my little German grandmother. I bake what she baked and then more. I save the best for last. Vanilla Kipfl! Some use a cookie dough for these, but my grandmother used a sourcream, butter yeast dough, rolled thin and filled with walnut merengue. Vanilla in the dough, the filling, and the powder they are coated with. Zimstaren, almond slices, Moynihan strudel, nuss strudel, stollen, linger spice thumbprints, ginger crisps….so much to do….so little time. Lassen Sie die Weihnachtsbäckerei beginnen!
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My only holiday non-negotiable is homemade marzipan balls stuffed with Irish cream ganache. This year my edible gifting will also include Deb’s homemade hot chocolate mix, which I’ve been drinking non-stop on snowy hikes, and Kevin West’s tomato jam discovered through a passing mention on your blog! Double chocolate chip cookies for my grandma the chocoholic and something gingery and molasses-y also sound good right about now. I’d love to try out some of the heavily spiced German cookies that I remember fondly from my visit to Berlin.
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I’m hopefully making your Pfeffernüsse, but despite living in Switzerland I’m having a few pickles sourcing the ammonia. I’ll also do gingerbread, shortbread (with passionfruit glaze as per my Aussie tradition; most of the other trade I have are for a hot weather summer Christmas and not so transferrable!) and some sort of bark – peppermint/chocolate, probably; the Christmas pudding has already been made and then I’ll do some mince pies as well. We have also fallen hard for the Zopfmehl here – we make a loaf most weekends (I’ve not tried your recipe yet) but that will definitely get baked for breakfast at some point over the festive season.
The photo guide is great – thanks!
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My mom makes all the good German cookies and doesn’t mind sharing, so my baking list is really simple! Usually I make chocolate crinkles and one or two other cookies on a whim – this year I might make some raw date truffles with really good cocoa powder too.
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Sugar cookies and gingerbread cake
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Italian S-cookies, bread-machine panettone, butter balls, spritz, pistachio nut brittle, pizzelles!!
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The reason I’m so looking forward to your book is to add some soon-to-be-classics to our list. I’ve been fascinated by looking into the history of Christmas baking, and I can’t wait to include some of your recipes in our family’s traditions in the future.
On my American side, it’s not Christmas without gingerbread cookies (though especially a chocolate gingerbread recipe), peanut butter blossoms (in honor of my grandmother’s mixture of convenience with commitment to homemade) and light as air pecan puffs. I’m learning to make some of my Irish husband’s family treats – Christmas cake and mince pies especially – and I’m looking forward to the day our kitchen produces a proper stollen. Maybe this will be the year!
Many congratulations on the book (!), and thank you for continuing to share here in the midst of the crazy-that-is our new reality. xo
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I’ll make stollen from the NYT cookbook, sand tarts from an old recipe, gingerbread and your Elisenlebkuchen. Love Christmas baking.
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This year it’s going to be your vanille kipferl and checkerboard cookies, chocolate crinkles and Russian tea cakes!
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I have to say your post made be feel better – I also am still in shock and can only take the news in small snippets. It’s scary out there. Usually baking makes me feel better and I was just looking around for some new additions. I found an interesting almond cookie with cardamon and pistachio. Since my new son-in-law is German, I will be adding some treats from there as well this year. I’m hoping to find Classic German Baking under the tree this year!
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Every Christmas my German mother would make Plätzchen with a lemon-sugar glaze and tiny silver balls for decor, a flaky butter star-shaped cookie with a dollop of nut cream (not sure what else to call it), and her classic Nußkuchen. For the past several years I have been making the plätzchen myself but have yet to learn the recipes for the rest! I am so eager to learn more recipes from my country of origin and hope you’ll choose me for this giveaway!
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I’m away at college for the first time this year and haven’t been able to bake in months — so excited to be home for the holidays with a full kitchen again! On the list is chocolate chip banana bread, David Lebovitz’s panforte, more pumpkin pie (Thanksgiving wasn’t enough), maybe gingerbread for the first time… and I’d love to make a yeasted Christmas bread/cake. Or donuts from scratch for Hanukkah…
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Baking as much as possible is on my Christmas list! Favorites here are honey, date, citrus bundt cake, candied orange dipped in chocolate, cinnamonbuns for breakfast, brioche, lemon squares, and anything chocolate! Would love to jazz it up with some classic German baking, I am from the Netherlands, so those flavors are kind of part of my DNA as well!!
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What a great book! Linzer cookies, chocolate shortbread with peppermint, butter cookie-cutter cookies, gingersnaps and a buche for the big day! And pannetone for teacher gifts…
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My holiday baking list is still in progress (I know…), but this year I am adding Pfeffernüsse, which I am so excited to make for the first time!
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I would love love love to make the salted caramels my grandma Alice used to make every thanksgiving and Christmas before she passed away. For years we worried she had taken the recipe to the grave, but my aunt earlier this fall found the recipe packed away in a box!!!!! Excited to taste then again (think gooey and sticky and messy and perfect) and see my grandma’s handwriting.
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Cookies: Triple ginger, Chocolate spice bars, thumbprints, Russian teas, Cranberry bars, chocolate chip, Peanut butter, lemon bars, coconut macaroons, spritz, sugar, date nut ‘strawberries, nut fingers, snickerdoodles and buckeyes. Also, clementine cake, Lemon Ricotta cake, Stollen, and lemon bread.
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Looking forward to starting my holiday baking, Lebkuchen, pecan rolls, peach flip, Alton Browns fruit cake, and ginger bread.
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Simple cutout sugar cookies using the recently acquired family cookie cutters.
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Kringle, sugar cookies to frost, and this year Deb’s brownie roll-out cookies!
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Looking forward to making a family tradition with my daughter. We call them Mrs. Roosevelt’s. Brown sugar anise committees, rolled out and decorated with individual non pareils.
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Hello,
our baking list includes gingerbread (house and cutouts), linzers (my great-grandma’s recipe with brown butter, only red currant jam please), rum balls, vanilla crescents, bee-hives, orangettes, biscotti, Swedish rye cutouts, stuffed prunes, and others that I don’t know how to translate into English. Well, usually it’s ten to twelve types. Thank you.
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I want to make gingerbread men and rainbow cookies every year but usually just manage a batch of saltine toffee…
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