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FOOD AND DRINK

How to make Swiss Christmas cookies: Cinnamon stars

Nothing says Christmas is finally here in Switzerland better than Swiss festive cookies. Here's a recipe for one of the country's favourite festive treats.

How to make Swiss Christmas cookies: Cinnamon stars
Photo: Depositphotos

The smell of freshly baked cookies wafting through the air is a sure sign Christmas is upon us. 

While there’s a seemingly never-ending list of great Christmas cookies in Switzerland, the star of the show – pun well and truly intended – is the cinnamon star, or Zimtsterne

Cinnamon stars have been a central part of Christmas dining for more than 200 years. 

READ: How to celebrate Christmas like the Swiss

These simple cookies keep well and are relatively easy to make. 

This recipe comes from Andie Pilot from Helvetica Kitchen, one of our favourite sites for baking, frying, cooking and making anything Swiss and delicious. 

The full recipe has been reproduced below, but can also be found – along with a range of other great dishes and treats of all kinds – here

Ingredients

3 egg whites

250g icing sugar

350g ground almonds 

Two tbsp cinnamon

One tsp cloves

Shot of kirsch schnapps

Preparation

Using a large bowl and an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until they are stiff. On low speed, mix in the icing sugar.

Now you want to fill a small bowl with about 100 ml of the egg white-sugar mixture to use later as icing. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge until you are ready to ice. In a large bowl, mix together the ground almonds, cinnamon, and cloves.

Image: Depositphotos

Add the egg white mixture and gently mix until you have formed a dough. Fold in the kirsch. Roll out to about 1 cm (½ inch) thick, then cut out with a star-shaped cookie cutter (dipping in warm water between cookies) and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Let dry on the baking sheets for a few hours or overnight. Now, take your reserved icing out of the fridge. Either dip the cookies in the icing, or spread it over the cookies with a small knife or offset spatula.

Baking

Preheat your oven to 250° C / 450° F / gas mark 8. One at a time, put the baking sheets on the bottom rack of the oven and watch until the icing just barely sets and the cookies get just a bit of colour at the edges.

This usually takes less than five minutes—so don’t leave them unattended or they will get too dark (though they’ll still taste delicious).

Alternatively, you can bake the cookies without icing (for about 5 minutes), let cool completely, then brush the reserved icing on top. Let sit for a few hours for the icing to dry completely.

Andie’s hot insider tips

Use granulated sugar or a wet rolling pin to roll out these sticky cookies.

In my house the Zimtstern (and Brunsli and Mailänderli) were always rolled out to about a cm thick and cut with relatively small cookie cutters.

If you prefer a thinner cookie, roll the dough slightly flatter.

These cookies will keep for a couple of weeks before they start to dry out. Store them alone in their own container and not with other cookies.

Use the leftover egg yolks to make Mailänderli or Spitzbuben.

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DISCOVER SWITZERLAND

Where are the ‘best’ restaurants in Switzerland?

Switzerland is home to some top restaurants, many of which have earned the prestigious Michelin stars. But where are they all and does this mean they are the best? Share your own recommendations below.

Where are the 'best' restaurants in Switzerland?

In October, Michelin presented this year’s renowned restaurant selection of the Michelin Guide Switzerland 2023 at the EHL Hospitality Business School in Lausanne.

The guide introduced five two-star restaurant newcomers (three of which are based in French-speaking Switzerland), while Michelin handed out a total of nine MICHELIN Green Stars for environmentally conscious gastronomy.

In addition to the newly crowned restaurants, Michelin also announced that a further 15 Swiss restaurants had been awarded the Bib Gourmand – which highlights good-value-for-money restaurants – prior to the award ceremony.

Overall, Switzerland’s local gastronomy includes 138 starred restaurants as well as 33 MICHELIN Green Stars-eateries.

So, where can you find the crème de la crème of Swiss restaurants?

Top of the list

The gourmet restaurant Memories, located in the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz (St. Gallen), is among Michelin’s four three-star restaurants this year and a great start for indecisive eaters with an appetite for Swiss alpine cuisine.

Under the kitchen management of Sven Wassmer, Memories’ offers customers seasonal menus consisting of several surprise taste experiences in place of an à la carte menu.

Schloss Schauenstein in neighbouring Graubünden – where Andreas Caminada and Marcel Skibba run the kitchen – is also among Switzerland’s three-star Michelin restaurants, alongside the Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl in the city of Basel with Peter Knogl as head chef and the Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville in Crissier (Vaud) with Franck Giovannini at the helm of the kitchen.

Two-star newcomers

This year also saw five Swiss restaurants snag two Michelin stars for the first time, of which The Japanese Restaurant at the luxurious The Chedi Hotel (Uri) is particularly noteworthy. Swiss twin chef duo Dominik Sato and Fabio Toffolon took the reins of the Andermatt-based restaurant in the spring where they serve up an exciting blend of Japanese cuisine and timeless European influences.

While in the Deutschschweiz, you may also want to check out the region’s second two-starred newcomer: Mammertsberg.

Diners at this exclusive boutique hotel and restaurant, with Silvio Germann as head chef, get to enjoy elaborate meals with deep flavour while overlooking Freidorf (Thurgau) with views reaching all the way to Lake Constance. A three-course meal at the restaurant will set you back 184 Swiss francs per person and needs to be prebooked.

Those looking to enjoy fine dining in French-speaking Switzerland will find themselves spoiled for choice as three new restaurants have joined Michelin’s two-star ranks.

L’Atelier Robuchon in the city of Geneva, which is housed in the basement of the luxury hotel The Woodward, offers diners a cuisine inspired by regional and seasonal products cooked up by executive chef Olivier Jean.

In neighbouring Vaud, the menu at La Table du Lausanne Palace – with an unmatched panorama overlooking the rooftops of Lausanne, the mountains and the lake – includes anything from delicious frog legs to salmon from Graubünden and wood-fired venison, while La Table du Valrose in Rougemont (Vaud) wows diners with its modern French-influenced menu.

19 new one-star restaurants

2023 also saw a total of 19 Swiss restaurants added to the country’s list of one star Michelin-rated eateries, bringing the total number of one-star restaurants to 108.

Among them is the Wiesner Mysterion – Zauber in Romoos (Lucerne) with its unique alchemical natural cuisine – as chef Stefan Wiesner puts it, for which the restaurant was awarded one star on its first try. The restaurant’s exceptional nine course menu – which is introduced with a short story by Wiesner and tailored to reflect each season – costs 225 Swiss francs per person.

The restaurant ZOE in Switzerland’s capital Bern – which also received the green star for its sustainable concept – is renowned for its modern and creative vegetarian dishes prepared by operational duo Fabian Raffeiner (kitchen) and Mark Hayoz (service).

Restaurants with sustainability at heart

With sustainability gaining importance worldwide, many on the lookout for their next perfect night out also choose to consider a restaurant’s sense of responsibility.

This year, nine Swiss restaurants were newly granted a MICHELIN Green Star for their commitment to the environment and resources and acting as role-models within sustainable gastronomy.

Among them is the modern Zurich-based elmira. Based in the basement of a former silo on the Löwenbräu brewery site, elmira’s cuisine places importance on choosing seasonal products – meat, fish or vegetarian – as well as ingredients sourced from the immediate vicinity where available.

Meanwhile, the La Tapis Rouge in Brienz (Bern) relies on its 2-hectare vegetable garden for fresh produce which is supplemented by local farms and small-scale producers. The produce the restaurant does not manage to use up for either its vegetable-focused or completely vegetarian menu is not wasted, but rather fermented or marinated.

READ MORE: Swiss government wants residents to eat less meat to protect the climate

15 affordable restaurants

In this year’s edition of the MICHELIN Guide Switzerland, 15 new restaurants have received Bib Gourmand award, which highlights restaurants that stand out for the particularly good value for money they offer.

Not surprisingly, most of them are located in rural areas and offer a good assortment of Swiss and international – particularly Asian – delicacies.

If you’re looking for inventive cuisine on a (Swiss) dime in a cosy setting, then you may want to visit the Le Mont-Rouge in Haute-Nendaz (Valais). At the restaurant, guests can order local, authentically homemade dishes paired with a selection of fine wines from the Valais region.

In German-speaking Switzerland, the rustic Schüpbärg-Beizli may be in the middle of nowhere, but it is well worth the trip to Schüpfen (Bern) if it’s Swiss specialties you have your eye on.

The restaurant – or Beizli (tavern) as it’s called in Swiss German – aims to delight guests with a range of traditional Swiss dishes with a modern twist. Its current menu includes cheese ravioli, Swiss salmon, and beef fillet to be followed by a pumpkin pie, plum compote and a variety of ice creams.

You can find a comprehensive list of the remaining restaurants featured on the MICHELIN Guide Switzerland 2023 here.

READ MORE: How many of these must-try Swiss regional delicacies have you tasted?

Is your favourite restaurant in Switzerland in this list? If not where would you recommend for readers?

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