The Tradition of Christmas Cookies in Alsace

Christmas cookies, also known as “bredele”, are a huge part of Christmas celebrations in the Eastern French region of Alsace. As early as mid-November, bakers start to prepare batches of these various cookies and sell them on display. If you are visiting Alsace around Christmas time, you will see these little Christmas cookies in virtually every bakery and on every market stand. 

There exists hundreds of bredele recipes out there, from the most traditional to modern takes. They come in various tastes, textures and shapes – cut out, sliced, piped, etc. Some of the most traditional and well-known recipes include the butterbredele, Linzele cookies, Spritz cookies, Leckerli cookies and these Schwowebredele. 

Alsatian people also love to make bredele cookies at home and offer them to their friends and family during the Holidays.

Notes and Substitutions:

• The cookie dough needs to chill for at least 2 hours before being rolled out, so plan accordingly. You can chill the dough overnight or up to 2 days prior. 
• Make sure you use unsalted butter, at room temperature. 
• Do not overmix the dough. Stop when the ingredients are just combined. To do so, I prefer to mix this dough by hand (instead of in a stand mixer) to get a better feel of the dough texture. The less you mix the dough, the more delicate the texture of the shortbread cookies will be. On the opposite hand, the more you mix, the tougher they will be. 
• You can use any cookie cutter shapes of your liking ! 

How to store these Almond Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies

• On your counter – These cookies can keep for up to 3 months stored in a metal tin box on your counter. 
• In your freezer – Well stored in an airtight container, these cookies can keep for up to 6 months. To thaw, leave them on your counter overnight. 

This recipe yields about 75 cookies. This is ideal for making a lot of cookies for hosting or Holiday cookie swaps. If you wish to make fewer cookies, you can easily halve the recipe.

I hope you’ll love this Almond Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies as much as I do! If you have any questions, please leave a comment. 

More cookie recipes you may like: 

• Thin Spiced Almond Cookies (Pains d’Amandes)
• Cocoa and Almond Thumbprint Cookies (Linzele)
• Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt 
• Breton Salted Butter Sables
• Chocolate chip cookies with fleur de sel 
• Butter Sables from Alsace (Butterbredele)

Almond Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies (Alsatian Schwowebredele)

Print Recipe

Serves: Makes 75 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 12 Minutes 12 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 32M calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.2/5

( 10 voted )

Ingredients

4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups (150g) ground almonds
1 tbsp (7.5g) ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 cup (250g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature

For the egg wash:
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp (15ml) milk

Instructions

Step 1 - In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, ground almonds, ground cinnamon, salt and sugar. Add the butter, cut in rough chunks and mix with your fingers until you get a crumbly consistency and pea-size bits of butter are still visible. Add the eggs and mix again until just combined and the dough comes together into a rough ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) with a rack in the middle. Prepare two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Step 2 - Take the chilled dough out of the fridge, unwrap and transfer onto a floured working surface. At this point, I like to divide the dough in two before rolling it out. Roll the dough out until it is ½-inch thick (1.27cm) and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

Transfer the cookies onto the paper-lined baking sheets. If the dough is a little sticky, you may need a spatula to delicately unpeel the cookies from the working surface.

Step 3 - In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk with the milk and brush the top of the cookies with this egg wash.

Bake for 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies turn lightly golden. Let the cookies cool for 1 minute on the baking sheets and then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cookies are completely cooled to room temperature, store in a tin box.

The post Almond Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies (Alsatian Schwowebredele) appeared first on Pardon Your French.

Last year, I shared with you two bredele recipes: the Speculoos and the Almond Pistachio Crescents. But the truth is, these Spritz (reminiscent of the German Spritzgebäck) are probably my favorites, and I make it a tradition to bake them every year around this time. They’re crisp, buttery and half-coated in chocolate.

Cooking notes:

• “Spritz” derives from the German word ”spritzen” which means “to squirt”. This comes from the fact that spritz cookie dough is traditionnaly “squirted” out of a cookie press. You can also use a piping bag (like I usually do), with an attached star-shaped nozzle.
• Right after half-dipping the spritz cookies into the melted chocolate I like to sprinkle them with crushed pistachios to add a little festive note. You can also opt for crushed hazelnuts, almonds, coconut flakes, confetti, etc… or just leave them as is.

Chocolate Coated Spritz Cookies from Alsace

Print Recipe

Serves: 18-20 cookies Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 8 minutes 8 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 3.5/5

( 8 voted )

Ingredients

½ cup/ 1 stick (125g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (130g) sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
125g ground almond
2 eggs
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5g) baking powder
½ tsp salt
100g chocolate (dark, milk chocolate or semi-sweet)
Optional: Crushed pistachios for decoration.

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 350F (180C) and prepare 2 parchment-lined baking sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter (with a spatula or electric whisk) with the sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until just incorporated. Add the ground almond and mix until the dough is homogeneous and soft.

Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix until just incorporated. The dough should be soft enough to be “squirted” through a piping bag but firm enough that the cookies will hold their shape.

Transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle (or use a cookie press). Pipe out the dough into 2-inch (5cm) long sticks, onto the baking sheet, while leaving at least 1 inch (3.5cm) space between each one.

Bake for 6-8 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes and gently transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a “bain-marie” (in a heat-proof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water). Dip the cookie halfway into the melted chocolate and gently transfer onto a cooling rack. Optional: Immediately sprinkle with crushed pistachios and cool completely for the chocolate to harden.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

If you try this Chocolate Coated Spritz Cookies recipe, let me know! Leave a comment or share a photo using #pardonyourfrench on Instagram.

Bon Appétit!

A recipe inspired by Taste of Home, Marmiton and Sally’s Baking Addiction. 

If you like French cookies, you might like: 

• Speculoos Cookies
• Salted Butter Breton Sables 
• Almond Pistachio Crescent Cookies
• Eggnog Madeleines 

The post Chocolate Coated Spritz Cookies from Alsace appeared first on Pardon Your French.

Shaped as moon crescents, these cookies are dusted in icing sugar and crushed pistachio. Their texture is flaky and delicate, with a melt-in-your-mouth finish. They are great for your Christmas cookie swap.

Cooking notes:

• Refrigerating the dough for a minimum one hour minimum is essential for the butter to harden again and for the cookies to get their signature flaky texture. After 1 hour in the fridge, the dough becomes quite fragile, and you might feel like it is difficult to shape the cookies into crescents without breaking them. It takes a bit of practice … but after a few tries, you will get the hang of it.

If you try these Almond Pistachio Crescent Cookies, let me know!  Leave a comment or share a photo on Instagram tagging @pardonyourfrench or using #pardonyourfrench. I’d love to see what you come up with.  

Bon Appétit!

Almond Pistachio Crescent Cookies

Print Recipe

Serves: 24 cookies Prep Time: 1 h 20 minutes Cooking Time: 12 Minutes 12 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 3.7/5

( 7 voted )

Ingredients

For the cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup ground almond
1/4 cup ground pistachio
1 cup butter (cold)
1 teaspoon almond extract

For dusting:
1/3 cup icing sugar
¼ ground pistachio
¼ ground almond

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, blend together the flour, sugar, ground almond and ground pistachio.

Dice the cold butter into small cubes and add it to the dry ingredients, along with the almond extract. Mix until the butter is incorporated and the dough comes together into a rough ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for 1 hour.

Pre-heat your oven to 340F, prepare two parchment lined baking sheets and take the dough out of the fridge.
Shape the dough into 1-tbsp balls. On a floured working surface, using the two palms of your hands, roll out each ball to a small log and shape it in a crescent shape. The recipe makes for about 24 crescent cookies.

Bake the first sheet of cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, on the middle rack of your oven. The cookies should be slightly golden on the edges and still a bit soft in the middle. Remove the cookies and transfer them directly onto a cooling rack. Repeat with the second baking sheet.

For dusting, mix together the sugar, pistachio and almond. Dust the cookies generously.

Try more Alsatian Bredeles!

• Speculoos Cookies
• Honey & Citrus Spiced Bread

The post Almond Pistachio Crescent Cookies appeared first on Pardon Your French.