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Weihnachtsbäckerei – Part 4: Coconut Macaroons -Two different ways

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Coconut Macaroons – Kokosmakronen

Coconut macaroons are an absolute must for any holiday cookie baker. At least that’s what I was told by a very dear American friend, who has lived for years in Germany. When she saw my recent Friday posts on German Christmas Cookie baking, Weihnachtsbäckerei, she insisted that I had to include this old time favorite!

So here we go with her two recipes ! Yes, two recipes: One is with whole eggs and the other one is made only with egg whites. A great recipe, if you have excess egg whites left from your previous cookie baking, which you want to use.

Coconut Macaroons Recipe made with Whole Eggs

Ingredients:

  • 125g Butter
  • 375g Sugar
  • 1 package Dr. Oetker Vanilla Sugar or 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
  • 4 Egg yolks
  • 50g flour
  • 375g shredded coconut
  • 4 egg whites

Beat the butter into a foamy mixture slowly adding half of the 375g sugar, as well as the Vanilla sugar and the 4 egg yolks. After having mixed well add the rest of the sugar. Then gradually add the 50g of flour to the batter together with the 375g shredded coconut.

In a separate bowl beat the 4 egg whites until you get a firm and stiff consistency, then carefully fold it into the coconut mixture.

With 2 teaspoons take out some of the batter, form little heaps of dough and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 420-430 Fahrenheit and bake the cookies for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Makes a batch of deliciously golden looking coconut macaroons!

Quick Coconut Macaroons Recipe made with Egg Whites only

Ingredients:

  • 3 egg whites
  • 250g sugar
  • 350g shredded coconut
  • A few drops orange peel aroma by Dr. Oetker or McCormick
  • 150 g hacked pistachios for decorating

Beat the egg whites to a firm, stiff consistency gradually adding the sugar while you keep beating the mixture until it takes on a glossy consistency and has stiff peaks. Fold the shredded coconut together with the orange aroma carefully under the batter.

Form little heaps of dough, put a few hacked pistachios on top and put them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake the coconut macaroons in a preheated oven (320 Fahrenheit) for about 10-15 minutes.

Makes beautifully white coconut macaroons with a green pistachio top!

Enjoy!

Let us know your favorite German Christmas Cookie Recipe and send it to CaliforniaGermans(at)gmail.com !

Image: Pixabay.com

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Weihnachtsbäckerei – Part 3: Chocolate Wasp Nests

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Chocolate Wasp Nests – Wespennester

Today we are adding a chocolate macaroon with slivered almonds and a touch of cloves to our Weihnachstbäckerei. A very light but intensely flavored Christmas cookie satisfying your chocolate cravings. Thank you Christine R. from San Diego!

Ingredients for 60 pieces:

250g slivered almonds

2 tbsp sugar

250g bittersweet chocolate

4 egg whites

250g sugar

1 pinch ground cloves

Directions:

  1. Spread the slivered almonds on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the 2 tbsp sugar. Bake them in the oven at 392F degrees for about 15 minutes to let them get golden brown.
  2. In the meantime melt the bittersweet chocolate over a hot-water bath
  3. Let both chocolate and almonds cool down.
  4. Beat egg whites until stiff. Carefully add the sugar and the ground cloves while continuing to beat the egg whites.
  5. Continue to mix the mixture with the electric mixer (on a lower level) for about another 10 minutes until the mixture takes on a glossy and thick appearance. Slowly add and fold into the mixture the slivered almonds and the melted chocolate.
  6. With 2 teaspoons make little heaps of dough and put them on a greased baking sheet.
  7. Bake the cookies on the lowest rack in the preheated oven (302 F ) for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Let us know your favorite German Christmas Cookie Recipe and send it to CaliforniaGermans(at)gmail.com !

Image: CaliforniaGermans.com

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Saint Martin's Day – Lanterns, 'Weckmänner' and more

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Laterne! Laterne! Sonne, Mond und Sterne…

A ‘Sankt Martin’s Tag’ lantern parade is a beloved tradition for children in Germany. Saint Martin’s Day is celebrated on November 11th and I remember it as a day that rang in the joyful winter season that culminates in the year’s most festive celebration, Christmas. As a tasty precursor to all the delicious Christmas cookies, kids are offered “Weckmänner”that day, a pastry that’s made of sweet leavened dough, in the form of a man.

GermanPacificSchool in San Diego and GermanSchoolCampus in Newport Beach, both had their lantern parades already early this year and they sent us some cool pictures. While GermanSchoolCampus celebrated in Irvine and walked along Woodbridge lake, GermanPacificSchool had its lantern walk on Mission Bay combined with a bonfire on the beach.

To get you in the right holiday mood here in sunny California we have put together a little compilation of Saint Martin’s Day celebrations in SoCal for you! 

If you live in Northern California, watch out for lantern parade happenings this weekend! Two we have listed for you right here:

1 ) German Language School of Marin has its Laternenfest in Novato & Santa Rosa on Saturday, November 12 at 5:30pm!

2 ) Bay Area Kinderstube in Albany has a Laternenfest for all, who live in the Berkeley/San Francisco area on Saturday, November 12 at 4:00pm. (Check out our earlier post on this topic that offers more details on where & when)

Get in the right mood for Saint Martin’s Day with our slide show:

Slide-Show Images: GermanSchoolCampus & GermanPacificSchool
Image: “Kinder beim Martinssingen”, © Superbass / CC-BY-SA-4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

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Berliner Rundfunk 91.4 needs 'Berliners' living in California

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unnamed-2Are you from Berlin and made California your home?

A new radio show on the Berliner Rundfunk 91.4 is on the look out for ‘Berliners’ who have left Berlin to live in California!

They are especially interested in how many years it has been since you’ve left Berlin and if you are missing your home city Berlin.  In fact what do you miss the most? Do you still have family in Berlin? What brought you to California and what are you doing professionally here?

But most importantly they would like to know if you are planning on coming ‘home’ to Berlin for Christmas, and if you would like to visit someone over there, or if you particularly miss someone special over there.

If you are interested in sharing some of your life story with the Berliner Rundfunk 91.4, please contact editor Helena Daehler at helena.daehler(AT)berliner-rundfunk.de

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Image: Neue Berliner Rundfunk GmbH und Co. KG