Christmas Cookies

With the holiday cookie season right around the corner, these traditional chocolate German cookies called Schokokipferl, will make the perfect addition to your cookie baking this season!

I love holiday baking and I especially love making Christmas cookies!  Last week I saw a magazine at the German gas station that was filled with only German Christmas baking.  Everything from cookies to bars to muffins and cakes.  So naturally, I had to buy it.  In this magazine was this recipe for a chocolate version of one of my favorite German holiday cookies, Kipferl.

Traditionally,  Kipferl are vanilla flavored and covered in powdered or granulated sugar.   For this recipe, however, cocoa powder is added to the simple dough and it is covered in drizzles of white and milk chocolate.

Simple yet so incredibly delicious!

You know what else is great about cookies?  The tools you use to make them!  OXO products for baking are some of my favorites and they recently sent me 3 new items to try out!

• Non-Stick Half Sheet Pan: http://us.oxo.com/bfmMW
• Medium Cookie Scoop: http://us.oxo.com/bfmNc
• Cookie Spatula: http://us.oxo.com/bfmNz

I love love love love this sheet pan.  I was a bit reluctant at first not to put any parchment paper on it but I am happy to say that none of my cookies stuck to the pan!  The grooved bottom of the pan worked amazingly well to give my cookies a beautiful brown bottom without burning or sticking!

I’ve never owned a cookie scoop before, so I was anxious to try it out with these cookies.  I probably didn’t need to use it, but it worked great to portion out the sizes of the cookies.

The OXO Cookie Spatula is the perfect size for transferring cookies from the baking pan to the cooling rack.  It fits one cookie perfectly and doesn’t scrape the pan.

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer was founded by two OXOnians (OXO employees) who were inspired by their son Liam’s battle with pediatric cancer, a disease which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer provides inspiration and support to allow anyone to easily get involved in fundraising to find a cure for pediatric cancer.

OXOnians regard each other as family. The news of Liam’s diagnosis hit them hard and they have been personally involved with this worthy organization from the beginning. As a formal show of support, in 2015, OXO will donate up to $100,000* to support Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

So run out to the store, buy any OXO product with this green Cookies for Kids’ Cancer sticker on it and OXO will donate money to help find a cure for pediatric cancer.  Then bake these Schokokipferl and share them with those you love during the holiday season.

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Your donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids’ Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.
OXO will be donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this campaign in October (up to our $100,000 commitment*.)
*In 2015, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through product proceeds, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts.
Although I was compensated by OXO with product for this post, all opinions are my own. 

Schokokipferl

Yield: 2 dozen

Prep Time: 4 hours

Cook Time: 14 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours 14 minutes

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Ingredients

Cookies

• 100g ground Hazelnuts
• 150g all-purpose flour (or 405 flour)
• 100g powdered sugar
• 20g dark chocolate cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 150g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 2 egg yolks, cold
• 50g white chocolate
• 50g milk chocolate
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream, divided
• 1 tsp butter, divided

Supplies

• OXO Non-Stick Half Sheet Pan
• OXO Medium Cookie Scoop
• OXO Cookie Spatula

Instructions

1. Sift together the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt into the bowl of a food processor.
2. Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the flour mixture and process on low until the butter has been cut into small pieces and the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
3. Add the egg yolks and process until the mixture comes together and a dough ball forms.
4. Form the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Press is slightly to flatten. Chill for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
5. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
6. Get out your OXO Non-Stick Half Sheet Pan and set it aside. No need to line with parchment paper or use non-stick spray.
7. Lightly dust your work surface with powdered sugar. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on your work surface.
8. Using the OXO Medium Cookie Scoop, scoop 1 heaping ball of dough. Roll the dough into a 2 cm thick log and cut it in half.
9. 
10. Roll each piece a bit on the ends to make them smaller and come to a soft point. Fold the dough into a crescent moon shape (the traditional Kipferl form). Repeat with the remaining dough.
11. Place each cookie on the OXO Non-Stick Half Sheet Pan and bake for 12-14 minutes or until firm.
12. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before removing with the OXO Cookie Spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.
13. Once the cookies are cool, prepare the chocolates. Heat each chocolate plus 1 Tbsp of heavy cream & 1/2 tsp of butter in separate microwave safe bowls in 30 second increments until melted. Stir the chocolate after each time int he microwave.
14. Pour the melted chocolate into a ziplock bag. Cut the tip off the bag and drizzle each chocolate over the cookies. Let the cookies set several hours until the chocolate is firm.

Notes

The way I rolled & cut the dough makes large Kipferl. If you want a more traditional German cookie, roll the dough into smaller 1cm pieces before forming and baking.