During Christmas in Switzerland, you’ll see many traditional Christmas cookies (aka Guetzli) show up in the grocery stores, bakeries and Christmas markets. These cookies are often delivered by Samichlaus on 6 Dec in the classic burlap sack. Families also bake these at home and deliver cookie plates to friends, like in other lands.
Like most treats, home-baked are always more delicious and a fun activity during the holidays, especially if you want to experience a little Swiss culture. So here are recipes for 6 popular Swiss Christmas cookies and tips for success.
Contents
- Tips for making Swiss Christmas cookies
- 1. Zimtstern • Cinnamon Stars
- Recipe: Zimtstern • Cinnamon Star Cookies
- 2. Basler Brunsli • Chocolate nut cookies
- Recipe: Basler Brunsli • Swiss Chocolate Almond Cookies
- 3. Vanillekerferl • Vanilla nut crescent cookies
- Recipe: Vanillekipferl • Swiss Vanilla Crescent Cookies
- 4. Spitzbuben • Jelly sandwich cookies
- Recipe: Spitzbuben • Swiss Jelly Sandwich Cookies
- 5. Mailänderli • Sugar cookies
- Recipe: Mailänderli • Swiss Sugar Cookies
- 6. Sablé • Shortbread cookies
- Recipe: Sablé • Swiss Shortbread Cookies
Pre-made dough
Most Swiss groceries sell pre-made dough for popular Christmas cookies, like Zimtstern and Mailänderli. You simply need to roll, cut and bake. I’ve tried these pre-made doughs and they taste good, definitely better than the store-bought cookies because they are freshly baked.
If you are in a hurry and don’t want a messy kitchen, absolutely use these pre-doughs. Another benefit is that they sell gluten-free versions as shown below.
Special ingredients for Swiss cookies
These cookies all use mostly the same ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, & eggs. Three of these cookies use ground nuts, which are sold at every Swiss grocery. If you don’t have ground nuts, you can make your own with a food processor or use almond flour (though this finely ground flour won’t make for the same toothy texture). If you are allergic to a particular nut, just use a different one.
The only ingredient that might stump you if you don’t live in Europe, is vanilla sugar, which is used instead of vanilla extract, which is not sold here. Vanilla sugar is sold in (expensive) packets, as shown below. But you can easily make your own by placing a split vanilla pod into a jar of sugar and waiting a few weeks. You could also use vanilla paste (the little jars below) which you can find in some Swiss groceries.
Air drying cookie dough
Two of these recipes ask you to air dry the cookie for several hours before baking. I found this technique both shocking and annoying when I set out to bake my first Zimtstern that I intended to eat within the hour.
To honor these traditional recipes, I tried the air-dry. While the cookie was good and no one got sick, I must say that I find the air dry entirely unnecessary, possibly dangerous. It makes for a drier cookie that hypothetically lasts longer. But frankly, those are two things I don’t need. So I’m happy to bake them right away and eat a bunch of soft cookies over a few days. But the Swiss have been doing this for many, many years, so you should certainly try the air dry if you feel so inclined.
Rolling sticks for cookies
The one piece of equipment you might not have are rolling sticks (aka Teighölzli), which help you get a uniform thickness across the dough. Each recipe calls for a specific thickness. So you select sticks that are the right thickness, set them on either side of the dough and rest your rolling pin on the sticks as you roll. This is most helpful for the very thin 2mm dough, which could easily get too thin. Obviously you can free roll if you don’t have the sticks.
Rolling sticks are usually sold in a pack with three sizes: 2mm, 5mm and 10mm (aka 1 cm). You can buy Teighölzli pack for about CHF 12.
Now to the recipes…
1. Zimtstern • Cinnamon Stars
These star shaped cookies are my older son’s favorite and generally beloved in Switzerland. They even lend their name to the Swiss Christmas song, “Zimestern han i gern” sung to the tune of Jingle Bells.
The Zimtstern cookie is mostly ground almonds held together loosely by sugar and egg whites. You’re supposed to let them air-dry for a few hours (or overnight) then bake them briefly with a egg white icing. This method seems strange and disturbing to someone outside the culture, so feel free to just bake them right away if that makes you feel better.
These are always cut into a star shape. We like the smaller stars best but it’s nice to have a variety. Many stores will sell nested star cookie cutters so you have an option for sizes.
For icing, most recipes have you mix egg white with powdered sugar, then bake the cookies briefly to set the icing. I’ve also mixed powdered sugar with a bit of milk and used that instead.
Recipe: Zimtstern • Cinnamon Star Cookies
A cinnamon flavored nut cookie made without flour, so naturally gluten-free. Traditionally made at Christmas time in Switzerland, cut into star shapes.
Ingredients
For cookies
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 150g powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 350g ground almonds (or other nut)
For icing
- 1 egg white
- 175g powdered sugar
Instructions
- With a stand or hand mixer, whip the egg whites and salt until frothy.
- Add powdered sugar and whip to soft glossy peaks.
- Fold in cinnamon, lemon juice, and ground nuts and mix until combined into a cohesive dough.
- Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to 5mm thick.
- Cut dough into star shapes and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or silicone baking liner.
- Optionally air dry cookies for a few hours.
- Preheat oven to 240C.
- Bake cookies for 3-5 mins.
- Make icing by mixing 1 egg white with 175g powdered sugar until smooth.
- Dip the top of each cookie in the icing.
Notes
Traditionally these cookies are air-dried for a few hours before baking. You can skip this step and still get good results.
The Basler Brunsli cookie (akak “little brown”) is almost the same as Zimtstern just with the addition of chocolate and cocoa powder. They come from Basel and a often cut in the shape of a bear, which luckily I had in my cookie cutter box.
These were our new favorites and definitely going into the rotation! We loved them so much, we ate lots of them raw and only half of them survived the 2 hour air-dry. After baking, the cookie was happily still a bit soft, but strangely not quite as delicious as the raw dough.
Recipe: Basler Brunsli • Swiss Chocolate Almond Cookies
A chocolate almond cookies commonly eaten in Switzerland during Christmas time. Often cut in the shape of a bear, but any festive shape will do.
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites
- 250 ground almonds
- 200g sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cloves (optional)
- 100g semi-sweet or dark chocolate, grated
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whip the egg whites until frothy.
- In another medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Then add the nut mixture to the egg whites and mix until you have a cohesive dough.
- Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment to 5mm thick.
- If the dough is too warm and soft for cutting, chill the dough about 20 minutes before cutting shapes.
- Cut the dough into festive shapes and place on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner.
- Optionally air-dry the dough for 1-3 hours until the surface looks matt instead of glossy.
- Preheat the oven to 200 C and bake 6-8 minutes.
Notes
If you have a food processor, instead of grating the chocolate, you can break the chocolate bar into chunks and process it together with the nuts, sugar, salt and spices until the whole mixture is broken down into almost a powder. Then add the egg whites and process until the dough comes together.
The Vanillakerferl is a delicate crescent-shaped vanilla flavored cookie, made with ground almonds. In German, it’s also called Vanille Gipfel and Vanille Hörnchen. This was my husband’s favorite cookie of the bunch. It’s basically the same as a Mexican wedding cookie or Russian tea cake.
Every recipe warned me how difficult these were to form, that the dough just falls apart. But I didn’t have any trouble forming the cookies and I didn’t even chill the dough first. I did have trouble rolling them in the powdered sugar when several broke in half. But that just means more for me to eat and not share.
Recipe: Vanillekipferl • Swiss Vanilla Crescent Cookies
A delicate vanilla flavored almond cookie, popular all over Europe with different names but always part of a Swiss Christmas.
Ingredients
- 200g butter, room temperature
- 80g sugar (or powdered sugar)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100g ground almonds
- 250g flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For rolling: about 150g powdered sugar + optionally 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
Instructions
- Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until creamy.
- If using vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar, add now and mix until combined.
- Add ground nuts, flour, and salt and mix until it forms a cohesive dough.
- If the dough is too soft to work with, form into a log, wrap in plastic and chill until it is cold but not too stiff (about 1 hour).
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350 F).
- Cut off about 2 tablespoons of dough (about 15-20g) and roll into a little log and bend into crescent shape with pointy ends. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicon baking liner. The dough does not spread much so you can place the cookies quite close together.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 mins until lightly golden.
- Cool for about 5 mins. Place about a cup of powdered sugar on a plate. Gently roll each cookie in the powdered sugar. The cookies are very fragile and like to break during this process. If necessary, wait for them to cool a bit longer before rolling. You can also sprinkle the powdered sugar on both sides instead with a sieve.
Notes
Vegan option: You can make these vegan by replacing the butter with a plant-based butter substitute.
If you have a food processor, you can process cold butter with the flour (about 15 pulses
A Spitzbube cookie is two thin shortbread cookies with jelly sandwiched between. There are all sorts of special cookie cutters for this cookie with cutouts on the top piece so the jelly shows through. The one shown on the left allows you to change out the shape in the middle of the circle. Many use a face cutout, calling back to the meaning of the word Spitzbube = “naughty boy.”
You should roll these quite thin (2mm) so the cookie to jelly ratio is not unbalanced.
During cutting, I wondered why I couldn’t just free cut the middle without having the cutter affixed to the circle. Well, the dough is so thin that it just breaks unless you have the circle cutter holding it together at the same time you cut out the middle shape.
I used a raspberry jam because I didn’t want to buy a special jelly just for these cookies. But everyone agreed the jam was a bit too sweet. Current jelly is more traditional and gives more contrast to the sweetness of the cookie.
Recipe: Spitzbuben • Swiss Jelly Sandwich Cookies
Two thin sugar cookies with jelly sandwiched between, common in Switzerland year round but especially at Christmas.
Ingredients
- 175g butter
- 100g powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 250g flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 150g current jelly or other jam
- powdered sugar for decoration
Instructions
- With a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
- Add egg and vanilla sugar/extract and beat until mixture turns light yellow, about 2 minutes.
- Add the flour and salt and mix on low until just combined.
- Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment to 2mm thick.
- If the dough is too warm and soft to cut, chill for 30 - 60 mins until cold but not too stiff to cut.
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
- Cut the dough with matching shapes for the sandwich, the top half with a cut-out to show the jelly layer.
- Place cookies on a baking pan lined with parchment or a silicone baking liner.
- Bake for 6-8 mins until lightly brown.
- When cool, spread jelly on the bottom half and sandwich together with the top half. Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top of the cookie.
Notes
When cutting the top half with the cutout, lift the cut cookie up and place on baking pan. Then use the wide end of a chopstick to carefully push the dough out of the cookie mold. It helps to dunk the cookie cutter in flower before each cut.
Vegan: replace the butter with a plant based substitute and replace the egg with 1-2 tablespoons water
The Mailänderli is a butter cookie often flavored with lemon zest. It is traditionally cut into a flower shape and brushed with egg yolk, which gives it the classic yellow color you’ll see on all the store-bought Mailänderli.
The Swiss adore Mailänderli and wax poetic about it. But honestly, this is my least favorite cookie of the ones here. I find the yellow egg wash unappetizing and it’s not as sweet and soft as an American style sugar cookie. But if want a less sweet, slightly dry cookie, by all means, make a Mailänderli.
Recipe: Mailänderli • Swiss Sugar Cookies
A buttery sugar cookie traditionally made for Christmas in Switzerland.
Ingredients
- 125g butter
- 125g sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 250g flour
- zest from 1 lemon (optional)
- 1 egg yolk to brush top of cookies
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add egg and beat until mixture turns light yellow in color, about 2 minutes.
- Add flour and salt and mix on low until it forms a cohesive dough.
- Place dough between two sheets of parchment and roll to 5mm thick.
- If the dough is too soft and warm for cutting, chill for about 30-60 mins until firm but not too stiff.
- Preheat oven to 180C (350F)
- Use cookie cutters to cut into festive shapes and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, briefly whisk the egg yolk. Brush the tops of the cookies with the egg yolk.
- Bake 10-15 mins depending on how dry you want the cookie.
Notes
Instead of brushing the cookies with egg yolk, you could sprinkle with pearl sugar or slivered almonds.
Sablé cookies come from France but appear all over Switzerland during Christmas. It’s a buttery shortbread cookie that benefits from a light (or heavy) sprinkling of coarse sanding sugar.
I had fun with the checkboard pattern that I free-styled in the pics below. But later, I found a better method where you roll each color to 1 cm, the cut strips and layer them together. That way the checkboard is very even, unlike mine below. You can do other designs like spirals, so get creative.
Recipe: Sablé • Swiss Shortbread Cookies
This shortbread cookies is actually French but often shows up on many Swiss Christmas cookie platters. Most commonly cut into circles and sprinkled with sugar. But this recipe will make a checkerboard version with half the dough colored brown with cocoa powder.
Ingredients
- 125g butter
- 75g sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon milk or water
- 200g flour
- Optional decoration: egg white and coarse sugar
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or hand mixer, mix the butter on low speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add the sugars and salt and mix until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add the flour and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Remove half the dough. Then add the cocoa powder and mix on low until the dough is uniformly brown.
- Roll each dough separately between two sheets of parchment paper to 1 cm. Cut two strips of each color. Place one yellow and one brown next to each other. Then on top of those, place another brown and yellow strip, alternating colors. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill for about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
- Slice squares from the log about 5mm thick and place on baking pan lined with parchment paper or silicone baking liner.
- Optionally brush tops of cookies with egg white and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake 8-10 mins.
Notes
If not making the checkerboard, simply roll the entire dough to 5mm and cut shapes as desired.
You might also like…
Lastly, I’ll leave you with a couple funny Swiss German ads about a mom and her daughter making cookies together. Even if you don’t understand what they are saying, I’m sure you’ll still laugh.
