Swiss Walnut Cookies in Interlaken for Christmastime

I planned to ski for the first time in Switzerland in Grindelwald on a day trip, as soon as I discovered a late and unexpected snow had covered the small town. "If you buy this ticket, you can go where the professionals do, and even go to the highest point of Europe to boot," the attendant tried to entice me to purchase it. I imagined sliding down a steep mountainside, and performing slaloms around pine trees.
After renting not only equipment but an entire ski suit to avoid getting more icewater through my tennis shoes, I was headed for adventure! My rosy-cheeked competitors bravely slid down the slopes without any sticks, nor warm coat. I stood next to a lifesize sign of a monkey as I tried to ski a few meters, before I stumbled and lost balance. I had chosen a free ski park in the town, in hopes of starting at a safe beginners' level, and it turned out to be one for kids!

In addition to winter sports, you can also take a boat through the picturesque Thienzersee and Brinzersee lakes. After walking past a chocolate factory and statues of Heidi story characters, you can step on a boat that will take you on a sky blue lake past gingerbread houses and numerous miniature waterfalls generated by melting snow or ice. The best part of the trip, however, is the sight you receive when you first walk off the train: the Alps themselves.

Swiss Walnut Cookies
(adapted from Eat Little Bird and Betty Bossi's Original Recipe)
1 egg white
110 grams of granulated sugar
150 grams of finely ground and sifted walnuts
Whole walnuts to decorate

Beat the egg white until stiff. Stir in granulated sugar and walnut flour until it becomes dough. Roll out the dough and cut out pieces with a linzer cookie cutter (I used a round one). Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Cool, then cover with glaze and set a walnut half in the center, on the top of the cookie to decorate.

Glaze
1 egg white
150 grams powdered sugar
1 tablespoon brandy (original recipe mentions Kirsch)
Beat the egg white and sugar. Add brandy, then pour over cookies. You can alternately try the following recipe, adapted from Eat Little Bird if you prefer not using egg whites:
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of water
1 teaspoon of almond extract

References

http://eatlittlebird.com/2011/12/18/swiss-walnut-christmas-cookies/

Valentine Linzer Cookies

Mozart´s house in Vienna

After enjoying desserts that seemed to be almost exclusively adorned by giant "erdbeeres" (strawberries) at a Viennese cafe, it is a good idea to walk them off under snowflakes sprinkled by clouds onto the sidewalks, and head to a small apartment that is announced by large, proud, flags that sway in the breeze over centuries-old cobblestones. After you climb the staircase, you can find documents signed by Mozart, as well as reproductions of the Marriage of Figaro, which he composed in that very house, which he lived in for four years. To this day, Austrian and foreign spectators flock daily to the Mozartkonzerts, to watch men in bulky pastel-colored wigs sing and play instruments. The harmonious symphonies bring tears to the public´s eyes, even if they have heard them time and time again. Even the tourists who didn´t listen to classical music are converted to Mozart after this initiation.
When Mozart began living in Vienna, he took a trip to do several concerts, stopping long enough to write a famous symphony in the town of Linz,the home of the oldest torte known in the world. Might he have eaten a piece of this torte, as he scribbled notes furiously with a quill pen, with music flowing from imaginary instruments dancing through his head?

History
The linzer torte, or a deep dish pie made with almond flour crust, has a lattice top that is dark brown in color, and is brimming with preserves; it is a good way to showcase a special jam one has previously prepared. It was created in Linz in the 17th century. Rumor has it that the recipe travelled with Austrian immigrants to Wisconsin.  The traditional ways of cutting the cookie version of this torte are to have a bottom circle surrounded by scallops and a top cookie that has three holes in the middle, called eyes (Augen).  It is made with almond flour, though some cooks substitute pecans or hazelnuts, which must result in a tasty dough as well.

Recipe
Wilton Linzer Sandwich Cookie Recipe, which comes with cookie plunger for the Linzer Cookies http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=2308-3800
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup finely ground almonds (2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam or apricot jam or black currant jam
Confectioners´sugar (optional but recommended)

First, you blanch the nuts if they have the skin on them, then remove the skins, and grind them in a coffee grinder. Beat butter and sugar with mixer until light and fluffy.Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Combine nuts, flour, and cinnamon, and add to the mixing bowl. When the dough is completed, chill in the refrigerator,  in 2 separate pieces, and take out later to roll out 1/8 in. thick and cut out the cookies. Cut out the same number of tops and bottoms. The bottoms don´t have any holes, and the tops will have cut-out hearts, stars, circles, etc. Place the cut-outs on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Using parchment paper is fun, and is often advised especially when you´re working with almond dough, for some reason.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until ight golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet 2 minutes; remove from sheet and cool completely. Invert botton cookies and spread with a teaspoon of jam. After the cookies are out of the oven, use a sifter to place the confectioner´s sugar on them, and make sure you do it BEFORE you fill the cookie. If you make a mistake and do it after you filled the cookie, just open up the sandwich, rearrange the jelly or put some more in the center, and close it up again.  Makes 20-24 cookies.

The traditional preserves used to fill these cookies are black currant, raspberry and apricot.
In addition to apricot and strawberry (I didn´t have raspberry) I also used chocolate hazelnut spread, as some people do. What´s that you say? That´s not traditional? I don´t understand what you mean....All I know is that it´s delicious.

Upcoming recipes
New Orleans Mardi Gras King Cake
Guatemalan White Canillitas
Spanish Natillas with Berries
Irish St. Patrick´s Cakes
Salvadorean Pastelitos de Leche Poleada (Custard Tartlets)
and more!

References
http://www.foodreference.com/html/a-linzer-cookies-1209.html
www.foodtimeline.org

Videos of Vienna: http://www.ehow.com/video_4978602_vienna-tourism-mozarts-house.html
Video of Vienna: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roSgVaeTOsQ


Here´s other recipes: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/video/#v4989312001
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Linzer-Cookies-233295
 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/raspberry-linzer-cookies/

German Cinnamon Star Cookies

Imagine a bakery in a train station in Munich. Among the exquisite desserts is a star: chopped nuts nestled inside a warm, soft braid. (I tried a slovenian recipe for potica which I thought was similar, but it didn´t work out well that first time). While I have yet to find the recipe for it, I do have a recipe for German Zimsterne, a Christmas classic.

The cookies are simple and flavorful, thanks to the cinnamon (valuable in the 1600´s) and nuts (almonds in the original recipe, also special treats reserved mostly for Christmastime). They were traditionally served at the first meal after Yom Kippur, which explains the six-pointed star (mine were 5-pointed because I didn´t know). These treats are slightly chewy and soft at the same time, which makes them addictive.

Here is an authentic recipe, (http://mybestgermanrecipes.com/2010/11/19/german-cinnamon-stars/ or http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/German-Cinnamon-Stars-Zimtsterne-103995) though the version I made was an easier adapted version from my Betty Crocker´s Christmas Cookbook. I shall have to try the original version sometime when I feel like grinding almonds, and if I ever get a 6-pointed star cutter.

Now that I´ve been madly baking Christmas cookies (including the cookie house you can see below), I shall have to start making the candies....

Do you have a favorite age-old Christmas cookie from another country?

References
http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/guidetocookies.cfm  This website tells you lots of interesting facts, such as: gummi bears were invented in Bonn, in 1922, by the owner of Haribo.
http://moveablefeastscookbook.blogspot.com/2010/11/zimsterne-twelve-weeks-of-christmas.html This gave me the best information on the history of the cookie.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/12/zimtsterne/
http://germanfood.about.com/od/baking/ss/zimtsterne_sbs.htm