Germany is famous for a lot of things: Cars, beer, pretzels and the Oktoberfest.

But Germany is also famous for its Gingerbread, one of the most popular Christmas pastries. 

You want to know how to make German Gingerbread and other typical German Christmas Cookies?

Here are five top recipes:

Nuremberg Elisen Gingerbread (Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen):

4-5 eggs

10.5 oz sugar

10.5 oz chopped almonds

10.5 oz chopped hazelnuts

3.5 oz cartonat

3.5 oz orange peel

3 knife points cinnamon

1 knife point cloves

1 tablespoon cacao

Rub off peel of an unsprayed lemon

Beat sugar and eggs until they are frothy.

Mix it with the other ingredients and stir it up.

Put it in the fridge overnight.

On the next day, put 2 teaspoons of dough on an oblate.

Back for 20 min with 302 degrees (electric stove with top and bottom heat)

Cinnamon Stars (Zimtsterne): 

17.6 oz almonds

5 proteins

15.9 oz powdered sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon Kirsch

Grind the almonds in the almond milk.

Beat eggs to stiff snow. Mix with powdered sugar.

Put 1 cup of the egg snow to the side for the glaze.

Mix and knead everything else together, cover it and put it in the fridge for 1 hour.

Sprinkle sugar on your working place and roll the dough 1 cm thick. 

Tip: Put foil over the dough and then roll, so that the dough doesn’t stick on the rolling pin.

Vanilla Crescents (Vanillekipferl):

8.8 oz butter

4.4 oz sugar

4.4 finely ground almonds

1 egg

2 packets of vanilla sugar

A pinch of salt

2 spoons ground bourbon vanilla powder

5.3 oz powdered sugar

10.6 oz flour

Mix Butter, sugar, egg, salt, vanilla sugar, almonds and flour and knead it into a smooth dough.

Put it in the fridge for an hour.

Form it into small croissants.

Put it on a baking sheet with parchment paper and put the oven on 356 degrees or on circulating air with 320 degrees. Bake for 10-20 minutes until it is light yellow.

Stroke bourbon vanilla powder and powdered sugar through a sieve. Remove the crescentes from the parchment paper and pollinate them with the bourbon vanilla powder and the powdered sugar.

Shortbread Biscuits (Spritzgebäck): 

10.6 oz Margarine

8.8 oz powdered sugar

4.4 oz food starch

0.05 gallons milk

1 knife point salt

Rubbed peel of a lemon

17.6 oz flour

3.5 Chocolate Glaze

For the baking sheet: butter 

Mix Margarine, powdered sugar and food starch into a smooth but not frothy dough.

First add only  0.03 gallons milk.

Then mix it with the salt, the lemon peel and the flour, knead it afterwards.

Add the rest of the milk only if the dough is firm to splash.

Put the oven on 374 degrees.

Fill the dough in a piping bag and splash it in lines, circles or S-shapes on the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 10-20 minutes, until they are bright yellow.

Melt the chocolate glaze in a water bath, dip the cookies into the chocolate and let them dry.

Printen (Printen):

10.6 oz sugar

8.8 oz brown candy sugar

17.6 oz flour

1 egg

1 egg yolk

Peel from a lemon, rubbed

4.4 oz honey

1 tablespoon milk

1 one teaspoon

1 potash

6 tablespoons water

Caramelize the sugar in a pan and stir it smooth with water.

After it cooled down, stir it with the eggs till it is frothy.

Dissolve the potash in milk and put it, together with the honey, to the sugar mass and mix it with the other ingredients.

Knead it and put it in a bowl, put a towel on top of it and let it cool for 8 days.

Knead the dough again, roll it out, ca 2-3 cm thick and cut it in 10 cm long and 2 ch wide stripes.

Brush the protein on top and bake it with mild heat.