Plätzchen

For the basic dough mix flour and sugar in a large bowl. Cut cold butter in smaller pieces and rub everything to crumbs the size of peas. Then add the egg and work into a ball. If needed, add water. Divide into two or three parts. Add additional ingredients if the recipe requires and chill for at least half an hour or up to a week.

For the sugar cookies roll out dough on a floured surface. Cut out desired shapes. You can chill cut-out but unbaked cookies for a few days if tightly covered. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake between 8-10 minutes, depending on size. For the icing beat the egg white with the icing sugar until you get the consistency of toothpaste. Depending on the environment you may need to add further icing sugar or need to thin it out with water. Brush cookies with it and decorate with sprinkles or transfer to a piping bag and decorate as desired.

For the santas more details and pictures can be found here. Color half of the dough in red and then chill both parts. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. You will need six red balls and six white balls of dough per each santa. Make two larger balls from the red dough, which are going to be the main body and hat, from the white dough only make one larger, which is going to be the face. The face is a rectangle, as well as the arms and legs, the hands and feet are circles. The hat is a triangle. See photo for visual. Gently press together once you transferred them to a baking sheet so the parts stick together. Cut small parts of chocolate to represent the buttons and eyes and press into dough before baking. Bake for 7-12 minutes, depending on size. Let cool. For the icing beat the egg white with the icing sugar until you get the consistency of toothpaste. Depending on the environment, you may need to add further icing sugar or need to thin it out with water. Transfer to a piping bag or cut off one corner of a plastic bag and make hair, bread, etc. of the santas with the icing. Glue on noses.

For the black and white cookies knead in the cocoa powder into half of the dough, you may wish to add a little milk if it is very dry. Chill dough divided. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough on a floured surface. Cut out larger pieces and then smaller pieces, which are inside the larger piece. Swap out the small pieces so that you always have alternating colors. Cut-out, but unbaked cookies can be chilled for a few days if covered tightly. Bake between 8-12 minutes, depending on size. Let cool.

For the stained-glass cookies you will find further details and pictures here. Roll out dough on a floured surface. Cut out larger pieces first and then transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut out the inner part then and create holes with a toothpick so that you can hang the cookies. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prebake cookies for about 4-5 minutes. Meanwhile finely porcess the candies with a strong machine. Take out the cookies and fill the centers with the candy crumbs, use a toothpick to move the crumbs into the corners. Bake for another two minutes. You can again use a toothpick to move everything where it goes and bake for another two to four minutes, depending on size. Let cool on baking sheet before transferring and hanging.

For the Linzer find further details and pictures here. Knead almonds and spices into the dough and then chill. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough on a floured surface. Cut out circles, half of them should have either a smaller circle or similar cut out, there are special cookie cutters available for Linzer, but if you don't have, just look for a small shape and cut out with the bottom of a glass if there is nothing else. Bake between 8-12min and let cool. Fill the full circles with about one teaspoon of slightly heated jam, sprinkle the other half with icing sugar and then sandwich the cookies together.