Mailänderli (Swiss Christmas cookies)

The Swiss are worldwide famous for many things, but when it comes to food, there are two things that they master: cheese and chocolate. For all the time I've been living here, there hasn't been a week I haven't bite some chocolate or cheese. The varieties are endless, every town or village has a must patisserie, a famous maître chocolatier, or a cheese named after a town.

Even for us, we live in a little Vaudoise town, and we have one of the most famous chocolatiers in the Lake Léman region. Truly, the past years I've had the most amazing croissants, hot chocolate, and I've discovered amazing pastries, such as the famous Salée au sucre from our canton, Vaud, or the famous Zopf or Tresse (in German: Zopf).

However, there's a little custom I wasn't aware of until recently: the Swiss adore to bake cookies during the Christmas season! A little research showed me endless varieties, each canton, and region with its own particularities. Because I also love to bake cookies for Christmas, I found the perfect pre-Christmas activity!

I want to introduce you to my mailänderlis:

The mailänderli are short bread cookies made of same parts of butter and sugar, sweet and decadent. It is recommended each cookie is 8mm thick, which makes for a full bite of awesomeness.

Traditional shapes include stars and hearts, but it goes as far as your imagination. The recipe makes a good bunch of cookies which make the perfect little present for friends 🎁

Mailänderli

Yields: 30 cookies (approximately)

Author: Montse

Ingredients

125g butter (Room temperature)

125g white sugar

pinch of salt

2 eggs (Room temperature) * Reserve two tablespoons

2 tbsp of egg

Zest of 1 lemon

250g all purpose flour (any other flour, or a combination, would also work wonders)

Method

1. In the bowl of stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter for 3-4 minutes, then start adding the sugar in three parts.

2. Add eggs, salt and lemon zest and mix until fully incorporated.

3. Sift the flour and add it slowly to the mixture.

4. Once all the ingredients are fully incorporated and no bits of flour remain, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or overnight like I did.

5. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

6. Preheat the oven to 200ºC with heat up and down.

7. Take some flour, spread it and roll the dough over to about 8mm thickness.

8. Cut the cookies by using your preferred cookie cutters and place them on a baking tray (covered in parchment paper

9. Paint the cookies with your reserved two tablespoons of egg and bake for about 10-13 minutes.

Guten appetite!