Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap - Cinnamon Stars

This is my version of a traditional German cookie popular at Christmas.......Cinnamon Stars. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

As you know by now, I've been participating in the Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap and am joining in their Linky Party today.

So far I've received these lovely honey and almond pinwheels from Eri at It All Tastes Greek To Me.

And then on Thursday last week another package came in the mail. This time from Stephanie at One Gorgeous Girl who sent these cute sugar cookies.

Today we received our final box of cookies all the way from Victoria, B.C. Made with organic chocolate cake mix, these yummies were moist and delicious. Sadly Clarissa and Brianna did not include their blog so I won't be able to link to them to get the recipe.


We've all been baking and packing and mailing (and some of us eating) for weeks now and finally it's time for "show and tell" to share with you what I came up with for my contribution.

These cinnamon stars were so easy and yet looked and tasted exactly how I want Christmas to taste - cinnamon and sugar and icing all in one cookie. Yum. And packaged up in these cute boxes, all nestled in their gold shred paper, I'm hoping they made it in one piece to my three recipients:

Here's the recipe which comes from an old book that I've been using for years - The Christmas Kitchen by Lorraine Blodger. I made two varieties - one glazed with royal icing and the other sprinkled with cinnamon sugar before baking.

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the dry ingredients together and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and blend well.

Add the dry ingredients in four parts, mixing well after each addition. Divide the dough into thirds, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Lightly dust the work surface and roll out the dough, one third at a time to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out using a 3" star shaped cutter.

Bake for 8-12 minutes. Let cool for a minute or two, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

To make the cinnamon sugar sprinkle - mix together about 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Brush each cookie with an egg wash (one egg white mixed with 1 tsp water) and sprinkle with sugar just before baking.

For the glazed cookies, make a royal icing as follows: In a mixer add together 4 cups of icing sugar, 6 egg whites and 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix for 4-6 minutes. It should be fairly stiff so that you can "dam" the edges. Fix the pastry bag with a small tip (#3) and fill with the stiff icing. Alternately you can use a sandwich bag and cut a small hole from one of the corners. Outline each cookie and let set for about 30 minutes. "Loosen" the remaining icing with a small amount of water - add 1 tsp at a time while the mixer is on. It should be thick like a good gravy, but thin enough to move around the field of the cookie. With a teaspoon, flood the empty area of the cookie. Set aside to dry for at least 12 hours.

This recipe makes about 5 dozen so there's lots for keeping and for sharing. Enjoy!

This was so much fun. Don't you want to join in? You can contact Lindsay and Julie to participate in NEXT YEAR'S swap!