How to make
Sift the flour into a bowl, mix it with the sugar, a pinch of baking powder and vanilla sugar and cut the cold butter into pieces. Rub with your fingers until crumbs are obtained.
Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods. Add them to the butter crumbs - crushed or whole. Add the egg - lightly beaten, the cream and the citrus juice and knead a soft cookie dough. Shape it into a ball, wrap it with cling film and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
Roll out the hard dough on a lightly floured surface into a thin crust and cut out a shape (about 8-8.5 cm) with a round ring. Inside it, cut another smaller one - a star, Christmas tree or other Christmas element, so that a hole is created.
Arrange the cookies on a tray lined with baking paper and put it in a 340°F (170°C) oven.
Meanwhile, grind the candies into a fine powder. Once the cookies in the oven have formed a crust but are still white, remove them. Sprinkle the candy dust into each hole and pop them back into the oven until they are very lightly browned and the powder has melted. Here it is very important to make sure that the Christmas cookies do not burn or darken too much, because the crystal part will also darken and brown. Since this part is delicate and every oven is different, you must keep an eye on them from the moment the candies are placed in it.
When you remove them from the oven, do not touch the cookies until they cool down, then they will peel off the paper without any problem.
These Christmas cookies are very effective and beautiful and you can even decorate your tree with them.
I bake the in two batches, but it depends on the size of the tray being used.
It is good to first make a sample with one or two Crystal Christmas Cookies to get a feel, according to your oven, of how to bake them so that the crystal part does not darken and lose its effect.
Merry Christmas and good luck!
