Highlights from the local Christmas bakery

In the pre-Christmas period, there are not only tasty treats to be had, but also a few spillages, which I was able to experience at first hand together with friends a few days ago, so that meant: on with the apron and into the kitchen!

Our mission on this day was to try out the best local Christmas recipes and then afterwards to feed these to our families. That this event was not only a win-win situation for us pastry chefs, but also for our loved ones, became clear very quickly. One of the group even discovered their unexpected baking talent on this day :)

Besides the classics, such as vanilla crescents, rum balls and “Linzer Augen“, there were two recipes from the Ski amadé region which really impressed us.

So, are you curious?

Mondscheinkipferl – Moonshine crescents
For many years, one of my absolute favourite biscuits has been the Moonshine crescent biscuit, based on a recipe from my aunt Agnes from Schladming, whose shape more resembles cubes rather than crescents:

Ingredients:

10 gr flour
10 gr sugar
10 gr butter
10 gr melted chocolate
6 eggs
3 points of a knife baking powder
Firstly, mix the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy and slowly add the egg yolks and chocolate. Mix the baking powder with the flour and whisk up the egg whites until they make soft peaks. Again and again fold in the flour mixture in the egg whites. Spread the dough onto a baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes.

For the punch glazing, slowly stir in hot water, juice from 1.5 lemons and rum in approx. 400gr of sieved icing sugar, until a liquid mass forms (in order to achieve the original pink colour, you can add a bit of raspberry syrup). Spread the glazing on the baked and still warm dough and cut out or cut the biscuits while they are still warm, as otherwise the glazing will crack.

Honey Slices
A really great recipe, which I only recently found in a local Pongauer magazine and tried out straight away, are the honey slices.

Ingredients:

500 gr honey (from a trusted beekeeper in St. Johann im Pongau)
250 gr melted butter
250 gr ground almonds
250 gr sugar
750 gr flour
8 eggs
The grated zest of 2 ½ lemons
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
All spice
2 teaspoons of rum
2 teaspoons of baking powder
For the dough, first of all, liquify the butter and the honey, then add the sugar and mix it until it forms a cream. Then add the eggs and afterwards stir in the zest of the lemons and the rum into the mass. Separately add the flour and baking powder together, mix in the almonds and the outstanding herbs. Spread the finished dough onto a baking tray and place it in a pre-heated oven and bake for about half an hour.

For the icing, mix approx. 300 gr of icing sugar with two tea spoons of lemon juice to make a smooth icing. Spread it onto the still warm, baked dough and then cut them into small diamonds. Here, I would also recommend to cut it whilst it is still warm.

And now, hit the stove!

Which one is YOUR favourite recipe?