Ruth's Zimtsterne, just out of the oven

Zimtsterne have the potential to steal the cookie show – they are stars, after all – but in my experience, they seem content to sit back, enjoy the good company of all the glamorous and glitzy cookies surrounding them on the holiday platter, and wait to be discovered.  When you finally pick one up and take a bite, you’ll soon realize that Zimtsterne are brilliant constellations of spice and nuttiness, with a delightful meringue-like texture underneath a layer of sweet icing.  Then there is no going back.  You will be a devoted fan of this additive little cinnamon star cookie for life.

Zimtsterne are by all accounts a classic German Christmas cookie.  My father Paul says that when he was a boy, he remembers his German-born mother, Emilie Koch, making Zimtsterne during the Christmas season.  My mother Ruth also recalls that when she was growing up, Zimsterne were always a part of the regular repertoire of goodies consumed during the holidays.  So, when Ruth found a Mimi Sheraton New York Times recipe for Zimtsterne in 1977, she gave it a try, and has been making them for her family and friends pretty much every year since then.

Making Zimsterne is not complicated, but the dough can be just a bit tricky to work with. The dough has no flour.  This is a good thing for those looking for a gluten free recipe.  However, no flour also means the dough can get sticky, and my mother’s experience with making these cookies enables her to recommend the following tips:

To make the dough easier to work with, add more almond flour, a little at a time, to sticky dough, until you can roll it out. When cutting out the cookie from the rolled dough, have a little sharp knife on hand to scrape any extra dough from the cookie cutter so you can keep re-using it.  Use the extra-fine sugar for dusting the board and the cookie cutter.  In addition, avoid making these cookies in overcast or rainy weather, since the egg whites will not peak and the cookies will be sodden.

My recommendation?  Keep your cherished Zimtsterne out of the limelight.  If you have the chance to pluck one of these pleasantly chewy cookies from the dessert platter being passed around during a holiday gathering, try not to publicly confess your adoration for them.  That way, there may be a few left for you to plunder when the platter, at long last, comes around a second time.

Recipe for Zimtsterne – Cinnamon Stars

Adapted from November 30, 1977 New York Times recipe, by Mimi Sheraton
Makes about 72 (six dozen) cookies
Active time: About 1 hour, with 20 minute bake time
Notes: Avoid making this recipe when it is raining or heavily overcast; egg whites will be dense and cookies will be sodden in texture.  Also, for best flavor, use top quality ground cinnamon, such as the extra fancy Vietnamese available at Penzey’s Spices.

Ingredients:

3 egg whites
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 ½ to 2 cups (as needed) unblanched almonds, finely ground
1 teaspoon brandy (or vanilla extract)
Extra fine granulated sugar for pastry board

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Butter one or two large cookie sheets.

Using a standing mixer, or an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites in a bowl, and as they begin to foam and stiffen, gradually beat in the sugar. Continue to beat until whites form stiff peaks that retain the mark of a knife blade.  Set aside half a cup of the beaten egg whites.

Sprinkle remaining whites with cinnamon, one and a half cups of almonds, and brandy or vanilla extract.

Stir together gently but thoroughly, by hand or on low speed. Mixture should be thick and fairly solid. Add more almonds if the dough is too sticky to be rolled.

Sprinkle pastry board (or smooth counter top) with extra fine sugar and roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into star shapes using a small sized cookie cutter.

rolled out dough getting cut into star shapes; board is dusted with extra-fine sugar

Arrange the cookies on the buttered cookie sheets and brush the top of each cookie with a little of the reserved egg whites. Bake in preheated oven about 20 minutes or until golden. Allow cookies to cool and carefully transfer them with a spatula to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container or tin, using wax paper to layer cookies.

cookies brushed with beaten egg whites and ready for the 300 degree oven on buttered sheets

Zimtsterne cookies, just out of the oven, cooling before transfer to racks