at least this is my best guess at what time you might be interested in reading about how to make German style Christmas cookies. Before we actually have a closer look into the secrets and hidden recipes, I have to clarify one point. Though I'm calling this page German Christmas cookies, it doesn't mean that every recipe is invented in Germany. Some might, some might not, at least, those are the cookies of my childhood. So, this is about what a German family and German kids enjoy traditionally, for at least 3 generations.
So why me? Why do I care for German Christmas cookies... sorry, for German Christmas Kekse? Yes Keks does mean cookie and you pronounce it like cakes and actually every Keks is a little wonder cake, Christmas style of course. So, why Kekse and why me? The story is pretty simple to tell. Back in time when I moved out from my parents home and moved in my very first apartment, Christmas time wasn't the same anymore. My Mom living in a different area, wasn't able to change this, obviously. Therefore we - a couple of friends and I - decided it's time to get back this feeling and as young dudes do, we invented a party: The Christmas tree decoration bash. This all was about hunting through the dark streets of Berlin and chasing the very best looking and cheapest Christmas tree one could find. Getting the tree back home to my place and putting all kind of decorations on the tree, was the next challenge. Naturally it gets difficult once 10 people decide to do decorations of one tree at the same time. So we split up, half the crew was taking care for the tree. The rest of us started to prepare Glühwein (a spicy hot red wine). As this was done very quick we decided, after a couple of boaring minutes, to prepare Kekse.
So nowadays when the Halloween decoration is stored back in the boxes, my old buddies and I are checking our busy calendars to ensure a Kekse date, suiting all of us best. We are still celebrating Christmas together and we are still preparing Kekse together. But now, we are a liiittel more mature, a little older and a little more lazy. So the Christmas tree will be ordered online and delivered right into my living room. But even though we still make Kekse, the ingredients are ordered online, as well. But as even more lazyness is still around, we invented the Keks calculator.
Did you ever wonder, how much ingredients in total you need to make a certain number of cookies? Way to much calculations... The solution is our Keks calculator :)
So enjoy German Christmas Kekse, I hope you like the taste as much as I do!
Merry Christmas and all the best
Ben