Christmas Cookies

In Northern and Central Europe like Scandinavia, Holland and Germany, Christmas cookies have been a traditional all through medieval period. Fruits, animals, Human figures or hearts are carved y wooden molds to make these cookies.

In German Lebkuchen, honey spice cookies are the ancestor of gingerbread which are made in the shape pf a heart or of Saint Nicholas. In fair streets of Germany villages and also in big markets these cookies are sold till the Christmas festival is on. Before Springerle date to midwinter festivals animals were sacrificed to God as the poor couldn't afford to do it so they baked tokens in the form of animal cookies. As this offering took shape of a rear mount as the word Springerle is derived from German phrase which meant "a vaulting horse".

Till the Middle Age period, spices meant to be rare and expensive which was affordable by wealthy people as adding spices to cookie dough was very uncommon and bakers prompted the situation to use the ginger and pepper. For example cookies like Swedish pepparkakor and German Pfeffermusse are made year round during Christmas time they lack that spices as an ingredient. A spice cookie named Speckulaas made in Holland was so much popular that any messages you want to convey were stamped into the cookies before it is kept into the oven.

In Scotland, farther north side, shortbreads were sued and considered to be unlucky if it is cut into portions, so it was broken into pieces with the help of hands and it is made out of rich butter cake that descends from the oatmeal bannock and the round bannock was scored in the center with a circle surrounded by wedges which was symbolized to sun and its rays.

In European countries, spice morsels the size of a nut would be found. As it is called different ways in different countries like in Holland they are pepernoten, in Denmark pebernodder and in Germany it is Pfeffermusse. In this spice ingredient cookie, the dough is mixed and left to mellow in crock for months and then rolled out assembly-line fashion, then baked and stored in jars until Christmas when they would be eaten. Cane sugar, almonds and species were found in Italy as almond paste cookies were all time favorite which was stalked from the marzipan of Sicily

Cookies are made according to how they are formed like in the following categories:

Refrigerator cookies - Refrigerator cookies are made from stiff dough by which it is kept in refrigerator and it becomes stiffer and the shape of the dough becomes cylindrical which are sliced into round cookies before baking.

Molded Cookies - Before banking Molded cookies are molded into balls or cookies shapes by hand with help of stiff

Drop cookies - Drop Cookies are made out of soft dough which are dropped by spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. During baking the dough spread evenly and flattens accordingly. For example - Chocolate Chip cookies

Rolled Cookies - In stiff dough, they are rolled and cut into shapes with the help of cookie cutter. For example - Gingerbread Men.

Pressed Cookies - With soft dough, the pressed cookies are made into various decorative shapes before it is baked. For example - Spritzgeback.

Bar Cookies - Bar Cookies consist of batter or other ingredients that are poured or pressed into a pan in multiple layers and then cut into cookie-sized pieces after baking. For example - brownies.

Sandwich Cookies - After adding sweet fillings like jam, icing etc in the dough, the rolled or pressed cookies that are assembled as a sandwich.

Fried Cookies - Fried Cookies is included as traditional cookies such as kruszyki, rosettes and fattigmann which have a trend of deep frying ordinary drop cookie dough.