Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas

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This is best eaten within a couple of hours after it’s baked. Or you can wrap it in foil and store in an airtight tin; it will keep for up to 3 days, after which it is still fine to toast for a further 2 days. Advent is an edible countdown in 24 chapters inspired by the idea of traditional paper advent calendars, where you open up a window to reveal an image of winter on the 24 days leading up to Christmas. It is a real gem that I know will be used for very many Christmases to come in my house. Rather than ice this, I’ve played around with paper-cut snowflakes as icing sugar templates and the results are beautifully festive; a doily, too, works just as well. Now food writer Anja Dunk has collected together a whole slew of festive German bakes in her new cookbook, Advent. Put the mixed peel, raisins and currants into a bowl, pour over the rum and set aside to infuse while you prepare the dough.

Anja Cook this: Lebkuchenherzen — Lebkuchen hearts — from Anja

Baking as a vegan is often pretty hit or miss, but this was a definite win – probably because few of the ingredients had to be changed, it was just subbing out the butter for a dairy-free alternative and using golden syrup instead of honey. The biscuits weren’t soft or crumbly like shortbread or cookie (that’s down to the rye flour) – but tasted more like gingerbread. Christbrot is very similar to a Weihnachtsstollen (Christmas stollen), but lighter in texture, and is best eaten freshly baked without needing time to mature. This is one of the reasons why a Christbrot is more popular to bake at home than a Stollen each year. It isn’t hard to make Christbrot but the method involves a triple rise, so you’ll need to set a morning or afternoon aside if you choose to make it. Add the icing sugar along with 1 tablespoon of vodka and blitz again until a smooth paste forms. You may need to add a bit more vodka depending on how fresh the nuts are. But I got there in the end, made sure my little sausages of cookie dough were far enough apart on the baking tray so they didn’t spread into each other in the oven, and was pleased with the final result.

In this beautiful book Anja Dunk presents over 100 classic German baking recipes. Illustrated throughout with the author's own photography and artworks, and with a luxurious cloth cover complete with foil finishes, this is a stunning, comforting book that will be a family favourite for many years to come. A slightly less obvious but equally symbolic sign of festivities is the oven –constantly aglow in our home during this period, scenting the house with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, clove and anise as tray upon tray of mouth-watering biscuits bake. The dough is actually very similar to a strudel dough or rough filo (just flour, oil and water) and is incredibly easy to make. It’s important when making this at home to heat the baking sheet up in the oven first as this ensures a crisp base, or if you have a pizza stone that’s even better. I’ve given some suggestions for my favourite alternative flavour combinations below the recipe, but really anything goes for the dough. Goat’s cheese and honey – switch the mushrooms for 200g goat’s cheese. Drizzle 1 tbsp honey on each portion, and sprinkle with thyme and some snipped chives before serving.

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The process was a bit fiddlier than your average biscuit – you have to roll out the dough, cut heart shapes, blob jam in the middle and cover with a slightly bigger heart on top. My efforts weren’t the most finessed – as shown by bits of jam pouring out after baking – but it still tasted delicious. The advent season – which we are three-quarters of the way through – is steeped in tradition and rituals and, just like the astronomical seasons, much of it is centred on light. The advent wreath is traditionally adorned with four candles and is lit at mealtimes, providing precious light and warmth during the shortening days. Although Advent is over and the holiday season is ending, I've found myself flipping through Advent making notes for the 2022 holiday baking season! And while I got to enjoy a small taste of Anja Dunk's latest book there are so many recipes (both sweet and savory) I didn't get a chance to make. Such a delightful holiday cookbook, I learned much about the rituals and traditions surrounding Advent and the festive German bakes made to celebrate it.As a lifelong lover of gingerbread, I jumped at the chance to make these jam-filled biscuits – and I’m glad I did, because it was worth it for the smell of the spices wafting through the house alone.

Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of…

Crumble the yeast (or sprinkle if using dried) into the tepid milk and stir to dissolve. Pour the yeasted milk into the flour mixture and, using your hands, bring the ingredients together into a rough dough. Tip the dough on to a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until it becomes more elastic. Form it into a ball and nestle it into the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1-3 hours until almost doubled in size. (Alternatively, put the flour, sugar, salt and citrus zests into the bowl of a free-standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the butter and egg. Pour in the yeasted milk and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is elastic. Cover the bowl and set aside, as above.) Cut out a round piece of paper just larger than the cake. Fold it into four and cut an intricate snowflake design out of it. Unfold the piece of paper and lay it on top of the cake. Dust the top with icing sugar before carefully removing the paper. You should be left with a beautiful delicate snowflake on top of your cake. Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. August is like a pause before real life begins again in September, so it’s a second chance to set up rituals and rhythms that boost happiness and work for you.tsp Lebkuchengewürz (recipe follows), or 1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed with
1 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp ground cardamom I was going to bring you the Stollen recipe today, but for many reasons (including the words in the introduction to this recipe) I decided, with a glad heart, to share the Christbrot — the Christmas Bread with Dried Fruit — with you. And I must own up here, that I made it with chopped dried apricots in place of the candied peel, used a little more rum than instructed, and then realised only when it was too late that I'd forgotten to add the almonds I'd so carefully weighed out! But it was de-luscious like that, I may have to do exactly the same next time I make it, which will most definitely be soon. The kneading in of the fruits is not light work, but patience is more than rewarded. So far I have tried the spiced Lebkuchen, Jam filled Lebkuchen (these were amazing!), Stollen, Cinnamon roast almonds, Potato cakes, Cherry and almond Florentines, Coffee fondant biscuits, Rum balls, Almond chocolates, Marzipan and almond stuffed dates, and Christmas schnapps. These all worked incredibly well. What is a huge plus point for me, is that the finished product keeps well for several weeks. Last year I made a panettone late on Christmas eve, it was light fluffy and delicious when it it came out of the oven, but a few hours later on Christmas day breakfast it was hard to swallow. Recipes that keep well are particularly good for Christmas as it's busy enough without doing all your baking on the day itself. Everyone goes on about the palaver of the turkey come December 25, but some of the best festive cooking at this time of year is actually spent in the run-up to the big day. I couldn’t find any ground hazelnuts, star anise or cloves, so I had to ‘grind’ them myself, and with only a hand-held blender to help, it took ages. And then, instead of being able to just bung everything in a processor, there was rubbing the butter into the flour, and kneading (for another age, it seemed) to get the mixture together and pliable.

Advent: Festive German bakes to celebrate the coming of Advent: Festive German bakes to celebrate the coming of

Lay out small foil chocolate cases on a baking sheet. Give the mixture a good stir through again, then spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star-shaped nozzle. Pipe the mixture, with a swirling motion, into the foil cases, lifting the nozzle up at the very end to create a peak. There is no good reason. So, with apologies for changing my mind already, here it is as a review for any of you out there who are in need of a good book for yourself or a baking friend in need of a culinary warm hug.

Other cookbooks by this author

GERMAN kitchens are the place to be during December, as Anja Dunk’s Advent testifies. Beginning with seasonal “almost unbearable” expectation and the tradition of baking a “saltbread” Advent wreath, the book segues effortlessly into the Bunter Teller, a plate of assorted bite-sized cakes and biscuits always on hand to offer friends and relatives who call by during the “magic time” of the Advent weeks. Put the flour, salt and butter in a mixing bowl and, using your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and mix it through. Now add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and bring everything together into a dough with your hands. Knead for a few minutes. Place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2cm/¾in between each, and bake in the centre of the oven for 22–25 minutes until golden brown all over, turning the sheet around once halfway through to ensure an even bake. Arranged like an Advent calendar itself in 24 chapters, the book offers recipes with marzipan (including how to make your own), Stollen, cinnamon roast almonds, the Christbrot dried-fruit Christmas bread, truffles, spiced chocolate and prune fudge cake, hearts and swirls, rusks and rolls. There are notes on vegan and gluten-free bakes, too. Why would I save it until Advent? Why give myself a brief 24 days to read, relish and reconnoitre the ingredients. Why would I not enjoy it now, during November and alongside Nigel Slater’s Christmas Chronicles, as virtual immersion in a month-long Continental Christmas Market before actually baking the goodies in the book and enjoying them as part of a relaxing December?