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Zimtstern are super simple to make and taste completely amazing!  The nut meal and cinnamon in a meringue cookie is deliciously light.

This recipe is sponsored by Millican Pecan. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures possible.

Every year for this event, I try to find a recipe that pays homage to my roots. Last year I did a good job, I think. I found some delicious Irish, English, and Norwegian cookies. This year, I found these delicious German cookies.

So, I’m reading many recipes about how these cookies are made. And I’m thinking, “This sounds a lot like a macaron, but not.” It starts with a meringue but made with powdered sugar instead of granulated. Then you add nut meals to the meringue, but without any more powdered sugar. And instead of piping these, you cut them out. You can see the similarities and the differences.

 

And these cookies are way different than macaron!

I have this habit of just reading the ingredients and putting them together the way I think they go. And I sort of did that with these, and sort of didn’t. I did not read any of the recipes comment on how thick the batter gets. It gets thick. Super thick and when you add the nut meals and rest of the ingredients it’s more of a fold and press to get everything to combine.

I did read that this dough is sticky, but I didn’t think about how sticky it is. It has no flour in there at all so there’s nothing to really bind the egg white and the nuts. Except your efforts to combine them as noted in the previous paragraph.

Now, as much as I enjoyed eating these, they are the messiest cookies I’ve ever made. Seriously. I had powdered sugar EVERYWHERE! Don’t say I didn’t warn you. And I did use a work surface sheet to roll them out and try to keep things clean.

However, I made the mistake of turning the sheet over and peeling the dough off the bottom that is now the top. Even though I folded the edges over to try to keep all the powdered sugar encased, there’s just no encasing it. I see y’all shaking your head in agreement.

 

Powdered sugar just wants to go where it wants to go. You can’t stop it.

The hubs was wondering why I was in the kitchen giggling my head off. Every time a cloud of powdered sugar would surface, I just had to laugh. There’s no point in getting upset. You just clean the messes up when you’re finished. And that’s what I did. Cleaned the floor and counter up when I finished making these. Heck, I even rolled the dough out again after cutting it because, well, the mess was already made.

I was committed to making these and enjoying them. Actually, it was more like, “I’m going to jump in with both feet and make these even though I have no idea how they’re going to turn out.” Do you ever do that? Just jump in and make something without having a clue what they taste like or how they’ll turn out? I was like that with macaron and did that with these, too.

These zimtstern don’t look like they taste.

They look like regular cinnamon cookies, but they’re not. They’re meringue cookies so they’re light and airy. Then they have the hint of cinnamon flavor and the nut flavor combined. There German cinnamon stars are completely delightful!

You think zimtstern are going to be delicate because of the meringue, but they’re surprisingly sturdy. I put them in a bag with a few of the hermit cookies and they didn’t break at all. That bag went into my lunch box, tossed in the car, and slung onto my back to talk to work. I thought for sure they would be busted by then, but they didn’t even chip or crack.

Some recipes have them topped with royal icing or some sort of glaze. If you’re not new here you know how I feel about that. I’m not a huge glaze fan. And I’m definitely not a huge icing fan. I would eat cake without icing and have when I make it at home.

 

But if you want to put icing on them, have at it! They’re your cookies now.

I split the difference with the almond meal and the pecan meal, but you can use all almond meal if you’d like. Or split the almond with hazelnut or other nut meal you have on hand. I don’t know that I would try coconut flour in these. Though I can’t imagine it would cause a different result if you did. I’m just brainstorming other meals to put in these cookies in case you don’t have almond meal or other nut meals on hand. I would at least keep it mostly almond meal which is readily available in almost every grocery store here.

And if you don’t have almonds or pecans you can easily make some. I would stick them in the freezer for about an hour before processing them in your food processor. I wouldn’t use a blender. It might turn into butter instead of meal. Which is why I suggest putting them in the freezer first. It will solidify the fats in there and hopefully keep the nuts from becoming butter.

Zimtstern are so simple yet so delicious. As much talking as I did about rolling these babies out, they’re still pretty simple to make. I do not have a lot of rolling expertise and it showed when I rolled these out. It’s sugar, eggs, and nuts. You can’t get simpler than that. Not to mention that these are gluten free! And can easily be made vegan with some aquafaba.

I love when a recipe has few ingredients but tastes amazing. And sparks the creative process to morph or change it into something that is truly your own. Maybe try some ginger in there instead of cinnamon. Or some cardamom! Granted, those are probably different named cookies.

Wednesday Christmas Cookie Recipes

• Almond Shortbread Bites by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Brown Sugar Ice Box Cookies by West Via Midwest
• Christmas Checkerboard Cookies by Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Christmas Tree Cookies by Swirls of Flavor
• French Toast Cookies by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Frosty Ginger Cookies by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Ginger Snap Cookies by Devour Dinner
• Italian Christmas Cookies by Blogghetti
• Meringue Christmas Trees Two Ways by Art of Natural Living
• Pecan Crescent Cookies by Palatable Pastime
• Pepparkakor by That Recipe
• Peppermint Cream Cheese Crushed Oreo Cookies by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Sweet Potato Pecan Cookies by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Turtle Cookies by An Affair from the Heart
• Vegan Italian Wine Cookies by Frugal & Fit
• Whipped Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies by Cheese Curd In Paradise
• Zimstern – German Cinnamon Stars by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures