Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas

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Hardly surprisingly, this time of year abounds in Christmassy cookbooks, but Anja Dunk’s Advent offers something excitingly different. For one thing, the Germans do Christmas like no one else; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that much of what we think of a proper, traditional Christmas we owe to them, only they do it more so! Put the flour, salt and butter in a mixing bowl and, using your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and mix it through. Now add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and bring everything together into a dough with your hands. Knead for a few minutes. Lebkuchen are often called gingerbread in English, which Dunk finds “somewhat misleading.” Lebkuchengewürz (Lebkuchen spice mix, recipe follows) is made up of roughly seven spices; along with ground ginger, Dunk’s version includes anise, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander and mace.

Anja Dunk’s Christmas cakes, bakes and chocolate recipes

I chose this recipe for two reasons. I like biscotti (and especially the sound of ginger and chocolate) plus I imagined they’d be relatively simple to make. I couldn’t find any ground hazelnuts, star anise or cloves, so I had to ‘grind’ them myself, and with only a hand-held blender to help, it took ages. And then, instead of being able to just bung everything in a processor, there was rubbing the butter into the flour, and kneading (for another age, it seemed) to get the mixture together and pliable. Chocolate-coated walnut marzipan, excerpted from Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk.These little sweets came about one autumn when we found the ground on our usual path to school scattered with walnuts. After dropping the boys off I rushed home, scooping up as many nuts along the way as I could carry. Cut out a round piece of paper just larger than the cake. Fold it into four and cut an intricate snowflake design out of it. Unfold the piece of paper and lay it on top of the cake. Dust the top with icing sugar before carefully removing the paper. You should be left with a beautiful delicate snowflake on top of your cake. A celebratory chocolate that looks showstoppingly good yet is a cinch to make. In Germany, Kirschwasser, a double-distilled morello cherry brandy, is often used with chocolate, most famously in a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, and these little Swiss peaks are no exception – sometimes I also sit a sour cherry at the bottom of the foil case before piping the chocolate in.

Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of…

Christbrot is very similar to a Weihnachtsstollen (Christmas stollen), but lighter in texture, and is best eaten freshly baked without needing time to mature. This is one of the reasons why a Christbrot is more popular to bake at home than a Stollen each year. It isn’t hard to make Christbrot but the method involves a triple rise, so you’ll need to set a morning or afternoon aside if you choose to make it. As a lifelong lover of gingerbread, I jumped at the chance to make these jam-filled biscuits – and I’m glad I did, because it was worth it for the smell of the spices wafting through the house alone. They’re the kind of biscuits that most families make because they’re so easy,” says Dunk of Lebkuchenherzen. “The dough is sturdy so children can roll it out nicely and cut shapes out without worrying too much that they will break.”Heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring from time to time to avoid it scorching on the bottom. Take it off the heat just before it comes to a boil. Add the chocolate and butter or coconut oil, and stir with a wooden spoon until both are dissolved. Mix in the Kirschwasser and beat for a minute until smooth and glossy. Refrigerate for 45 minutes so it stiffens up slightly. There must be thousands of Lebkuchen recipes,” says the London-based cook, food writer and artist, whose mother is German and father is Welsh. “Just like we do in the U.K., everyone has a family Christmas pudding recipe and it’s the same (in Germany).” Put the flour, sugar, salt and citrus zests into a large bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon, then add the melted butter and egg.

put the ultimate German festive What happened when we put the ultimate German festive

Put the chocolate and coconut oil into a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a small saucepan with a 1cm/3/8in depth of water in the bottom. Turn the heat on low and wait for the chocolate to melt. Once it starts melting, stir so that the coconut oil is evenly dispersed. Take off the heat once the chocolate is glossy and fluid. so that it is completely covered. Lift gently onto the baking paper and continue until all squares are covered. Sprinkle each square with a little flaky sea salt and allow to set before boxing up. Available as just an ebook, and a short, sharp read, is Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas: Easy Ways to keep the Joy of Christmas, and your Sanity, intact. It’s an easy read, with ideas and hints to keep you sane through the season. The self-care advent calendar is one I’ve followed for a few years now, and it really is a small daily dose of calm in a manic month.

Goat’s cheese and honey – switch the mushrooms for 200g goat’s cheese. Drizzle 1 tbsp honey on each portion, and sprinkle with thyme and some snipped chives before serving. Everyone goes on about the palaver of the turkey come December 25, but some of the best festive cooking at this time of year is actually spent in the run-up to the big day.

Chocolate-coated walnut marzipan - Cool Food Dude Chocolate-coated walnut marzipan - Cool Food Dude

Baking as a vegan is often pretty hit or miss, but this was a definite win – probably because few of the ingredients had to be changed, it was just subbing out the butter for a dairy-free alternative and using golden syrup instead of honey. The biscuits weren’t soft or crumbly like shortbread or cookie (that’s down to the rye flour) – but tasted more like gingerbread. I try them anyway. They’re certainly crisp! Despite the very scorched edges, there’s hints of ginger and the dashes of chocolate and sea salt are nice. I’ll definitely make them again (and keep a closer eye on the temperature and timings!) I was going to bring you the Stollen recipe today, but for many reasons (including the words in the introduction to this recipe) I decided, with a glad heart, to share the Christbrot — the Christmas Bread with Dried Fruit — with you. And I must own up here, that I made it with chopped dried apricots in place of the candied peel, used a little more rum than instructed, and then realised only when it was too late that I'd forgotten to add the almonds I'd so carefully weighed out! But it was de-luscious like that, I may have to do exactly the same next time I make it, which will most definitely be soon. The kneading in of the fruits is not light work, but patience is more than rewarded. On the principle that it’s never too early to start thinking ahead, really, and that Christmas is always on us before we know, how about Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas? Christmas is about the small things in life, much as hygge is, and establishing what you want from Christmas and then being able to say no to the excess is important. The book has hints and tips that hopefully will help you enjoy what is, too often, a frantic season. As we hunker and snuggle around the stove each day, we are entertained, warmed and comforted by it. If ever there was a time for the oven to prove its worth as the real hearth of our home, advent is it. I hope you enjoy making these festive German bakes, which are made to share with friends and family for years – together or as presents. Almond domes recipeThe process was a bit fiddlier than your average biscuit – you have to roll out the dough, cut heart shapes, blob jam in the middle and cover with a slightly bigger heart on top. My efforts weren’t the most finessed – as shown by bits of jam pouring out after baking – but it still tasted delicious. The dough is actually very similar to a strudel dough or rough filo (just flour, oil and water) and is incredibly easy to make. It’s important when making this at home to heat the baking sheet up in the oven first as this ensures a crisp base, or if you have a pizza stone that’s even better. I’ve given some suggestions for my favourite alternative flavour combinations below the recipe, but really anything goes for the dough. tsp Lebkuchengewürz (recipe follows), or 1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed with
1 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp ground cardamom Rather than ice this, I’ve played around with paper-cut snowflakes as icing sugar templates and the results are beautifully festive; a doily, too, works just as well.