How to cook New Year cookies, step-by-step photos of cooking cookies according to recipes of Europe
New Year is a holiday thatcovers all countries and continents. And each nation and people will certainly have their own signature and national recipes for festive treats. In addition to the fresh smell of pine branches, the aromas of the New Year holiday are always mixed with the warm and delicious - fresh baked goods. In this article, we suggest taking a tour of Europe, or more precisely, European recipes for New Year's cookies. Each country has its own secrets in cooking: simply traditional or unusual and original. We suggest you bake and taste cookies from Sweden, France and the Czech Republic. Spicy New Year's cookies from SwedenThis recipe has one ingredient that is unusual for sweet pastries. Don't let that put you off, its salty taste will only emphasize the sweetness. You will need:
- Flour (200 g).
- Brown sugar (60g). You need the most dark.
- Conventional sugar (50g).
- Soy sauce (1.5 tablespoons).
- Dark molasses, you can replace it with honey (30 ml).
- Water (30 ml).
- Butter (60 g).
- Soda (2/3 teaspoon).
- Cinnamon, ground ginger and cloves (½ teaspoon each).
Additionally:
- Pasta machine (these are used to make noodles).
- Parchment for baking.
- Shapes.
- Capacities.
Place honey or molasses, water, and both types of sugar in a thick-walled container. Stir and heat.Now add soy sauce, butter and spices. Stir until smooth. The butter should melt completely.Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the mixture cool a little. Add the soda. The mixture will begin to foam.Pour the mixture into a bowl and gradually add flour. You should get an elastic dough, which should be put in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes.Now you need to roll out the dough into very thin layers of about 1.5 mm. It takes a long time and is tedious to do this with a rolling pin, so it is easier to use a pasta machine.The traditional shape for such cookies is flowers andhearts. These are the cookies baked in Sweden, but the choice of shape will depend entirely on your culinary preferences. Place the cookies on a sheet of parchment paper and bake in the oven for 5 minutes at 180⁰C.Since the dough is very thin, it bakes almost instantly.Once the cookies have cooled, feel free to treat your family and friends to this sweet, spicy-flavored pastry during the New Year holidays. French New Year's Spritz CookiesThe birthplace of this sweet is two provinces– Alsace and Lorraine. The French bake these cookies on Christmas Eve. They claim that these pastries can be stored for several months, but they are so delicious that it is almost impossible to verify the theory. You will need:
- Baking powder for dough (11g).
- Nut flour (almonds or hazelnuts). You can take the coconut shavings. (250 g).
- Vanilla sugar (10g).
- Chicken eggs (4 pcs.).
- Butter (250 g).
- Sugar (250 g).
- Flour (500 g).
Additionally:
- Sieve.
- Meat mincer with a special nozzle.
- Parchment for baking.
In this master class, cookies were made withalmond flour. The butter for kneading the dough must be heated to room temperature. In a separate container, beat the sugar with the eggs. Mix the regular and nut flour, sifted through a sieve, pour in the baking powder and add to the mixture of sugar and eggs. Mix thoroughly.Add the mashed soft butter to the dough. The mixture will be a little sticky, just add a little flour.Wrap the dough in film and put it in the colda couple of hours. You can leave it overnight, but then it will be difficult to shape because of its rigidity. Take the dough out. It no longer sticks to your hands and resembles plasticine in consistency.Now we start to form the cookies.You can use a meat grinder for this. Squeeze the dough through a special nozzle or simply twist several thin strands into one thicker one. You can also squeeze sausages the length of an index finger out of a pastry bag. Preheat the oven to 180⁰С. Baking time is 9-10 minutes. You should take the light cookies out of the oven.These baked goods keep well in hermetically sealed tins. The following recipe for New Year's cookies from the Czech Republic also contains nuts. Christmas cookies from Prague.You will need:
- Flour (400 g).
- Baking powder for dough (4 g).
- Sugar (50 g).
- Vanilla sugar (5 g).
- Eggs of chicken (3 pieces).
- Margarine (250 g).
- Sugar powder (200 g).
- Fine raisins without pits (gum) (100 g).
- Almond crumb (100 g).
Additionally:
- Containers for mixing.
- Parchment for baking.
- Mixer.
- Round molds.
Sift flour into a bowl and mix with baking powder. Carefully separate the whites and yolks. Put the whites in the refrigerator for now, and put the yolks in the flour mixture.Add regular and vanilla sugar. Now add margarine and knead the dough.It turns out smooth.We put it in the refrigerator for a while to freeze slightly. In this case, it will not stick to the surface during rolling. While the dough is freezing in the refrigerator, we will work on the whites. They need to be whipped so that the mass increases in volume approximately three times, until strong peaks, gradually pour in the powdered sugar.The dough needs to be rolled out into layers of about 8 mm. Cut out round cookies and place them on a greased sheet of parchment on a baking sheet.Use a pastry bag or a syringe with a wide nozzle to squeeze out some whipped egg whites in a beautiful curl onto the cookies. Add some almond crumbs and raisins.Preheat the oven to 150⁰С. Turn on the bottom heating and convection modes and bake for 15-20 minutes.Delicious cookies are ready.