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Christmas cookies recipes

This year I decided to follow the German tradition and bake Christmas cookies, to fill our home with Christmas smells! When we were young, we used to bake cookies with my mom and we had great fun! Later, I continued the tradition and was baking cookies with my son when he was little, or a friend!

The tradition of course wants the cookies to be baked one month before Christmas, but I only had time to do that last minute!And my son helped me too, by decorating them.

Biscuits with pistachios
Ingredients: (for 60 pcs. approx.)
175 gr. butter softened
100 gr. castor sugar
1 pinch salt
4 tbsp lemon squash
1 tbsp water
25 gr. candied lemon
50 gr. chopped peanuts
Zest of one lemon
300 gr. flour
Glaze: 50 gr. castor sugar
1 tbsp lemon squash
Chopped peanuts
Beat butter. Add sugar, salt, lemon juice and water and beat well for 10 minutes, until you have a smooth dough.
Finely chop the candied lemon and pistachios and add to the mixture. Stir in the flour and lemon zest and beat until just combined.
Cover the dough with foil and refrigerate for an hour.
Roll out the dough with about 0,5 cm thick and cut out with star shape cutter and place on the baking sheet
Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees in the middle position of oven.
Allow to cool. Make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar with lemon juice and brush each cookie with the glaze. Garnish with chopped pistachios.
 

Cookies with colorful sprinkles
Ingredients (50 pcs. approx.):
250 gr. butter softened
150 gr. sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg yolk
350 gr. flour
100 gr. castor sugar
1-3 tbsp rum
100 gr. colorful sprinkles
Beat butter. Add sugar, salt, cinnamon, yolk and beat well for 10 minutes, until you have smooth dough.
Stir in the flour and beat until just combined.
Cover the dough with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Roll out the dough with about 0,5 cm thick and cut out with star shape cutter and place on the baking sheet
Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes at 200 degrees in the middle position of oven.
Make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar with the rum and brush each cookie with the glaze when it is still warm. Garnish with colorful sprinkles.
 

Cookies with couverture icing
Ingredients (70 pcs. approx.):
350 gr. flour
100 gr. sugar
250 gr. butter
65 gr. Ground hazelnuts
65 gr. cocoa
1 egg
½ tsp cinnamon
100 gr.couverture
Beat butter. Add sugar, cinnamon, egg, hazelnuts, cocoa and beat well  until you have smooth dough.
Stir in the flour and beat until just combined.
Divide the dough in two portions and form two rolls 4cm wide. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Cut out the dough in 1cm slices and place on the baking sheet
Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees in the middle position of oven.
Place 100 gr of the finely chopped couverture in a heatproof bowl and place it over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until it has completely melted and is smooth and glossy. Taking one cookie at a time, dip one end of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place it on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cookies with candied fruit decoration
Ingredients (80 pcs. approx.):
300 gr. Butter
150-200 gr. Castor sugar
1 pinch salt
500 gr. Flour
For the glaze:
150 gr. Castor sugar
2-3 tbsp water or lemon juice
Candied pineapple or orange
Beat butter. Add sugar and salt and beat well  until you have smooth dough.
Stir in the flour and beat until just combined.
Divide the dough in two portions and form two rolls 4cm wide. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Cut out the dough in 1cm slices and place on the baking sheet
Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes at 200 degrees in the middle position of oven.
Make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar with the water or lemon juice and brush each cookie with the glaze when it is still warm. Garnish with candied pineapple or orange
 

Cookies with red icing and colorful sprinkles
Ingredients (60 pcs. approx.):
100 gr. butter
75 gr. sugar
1 vanilla
1 egg yolk
200 gr. flour
250 gr. castor sugar
3-4 tbsp water
1-2 drops red food coloring
100 gr. colorful sprinkles
Beat butter. Add sugar, vanillia, yolk and beat well for 10 minutes, until you have smooth dough.
Stir in the flour and beat until just combined.
Cover the dough with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Roll out the dough with about 0,5 cm thick and cut out with star shape cutter and place on the baking sheet
Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes at 180 degrees in the middle position of oven.
Make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar with the water and the food coloring  and brush each cookie with the glaze when it is still warm. Garnish with colorful sprinkles.
 

Biscuits with coffee and walnuts
Ingredients (60 pcs. approx.):
350 gr. walnuts
350 gr. powdered sugar
4 tbsp nescafe
3 tbsp hot water
Powdered sugar for rolling out the dough
Glaze:
150 gr. powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp nescafe
1-2 tbsp hot water
Walnut halves for decoration
Grind the walnuts with the sugar in a food processor and pour into a bowl.
Dissolve coffee in hot water and add the walnuts.
Work with your hands quickly in a mixture.
Cover the mixture with foil and refrigerate one hour to cool.
Spread powdered sugar on the working bench and roll the dough to a thickness of 1cm.
Cut out with round shape cookie cutter and spread on a baking sheet. Leave them overnight to dry.
The next day in a bowl, dissolve coffee in hot water and add the sugar. Ointment cookies with icing and decorate with the walnut halves. 

DYI - Christmas wreath with Santas choir table decoration

Many years ago I made this beautiful wreath that I had found in a German magazine. Unfortunately, some time from a leak in the attic humidity drenched the box and it was destroyed. Last year I attempted to rebuild the Santas from felt, but did not have time to finish and  eventually I made the Santas  ornaments for the tree. I hope another time to be able to make it again ;)

You will need:
1. A ready-made wreath natural or synthetic
2. 4 red candles
3. Small gift packets and musical instruments
4. Satin ribbon of your choice 

For the Santas:
1. Styrofoam balls with a diameter of 3.cm5 and 1.5cm
2. An old thick  women pantyhose in skin color
3. Red lipstick
4. Black marker
5. Red marker
6. Red satin fabric 
7. White faux fur or wool fabric or felt
8. Florist's  wire
9.  White wool yarn for the mustache and beard
10. paper with music notes theme

To make the Santa cut the small balls in half and glue on each ball the small half (for the nose). Then cover the ball with a piece of hose and fasten it down with a few stitches. Draw eyes with the black marker and the mouth with the red. With the lipstick gently paint the nose and cheeks. Thread a needle with the white thread and sew a beard and moustache (photo 1). With a little glue fix eyebrows.Stick a long piece of wire in the head with direction from bottom to top in the centre and then turn and pass it back. Twist the two pieces of wire together. Cut a triangle from the red satin fabric (photo 2), stick it on the head and garnish it with fur.Attach the heads on the wreath and  in front of each head attach the little   music sheets. Decorate the wreath with the rest of the candles, bows and ornaments.

And since you are talking about wreaths, take a look at these wonderful ideas about door wreaths I found at  BHG:

Home shoes-slippers for the cold

Home shoes are a great idea for knitting, especially now that the weather is cold!

They are very quick to make, don't need much yarn and there are beautiful patterns either to knit or crochet! They are also a beautiful gift idea, if you are considering giving handmade gifts this Christmas!

Take a look at some beautiful designs I found:

And if knitting is not your bliss, or you don't have time to make something yourself, you can find gorgeous designs at Etsy! These slippers can be found at my shop:

These are some beautiful designs from other shops:

Gray men booties by yasooknitting

Crochet slippers with fabric buttons by whitenoisemaker

Teddy Berry Ballet Flat Slippers by  LolitasLuggage

I also found wonderful slippers made from felt:

Gray felt slippers by Onstail

Green slippers with flower by AureliaLT

White felt slippers by TapuTapu

EGST christmas bazaar at Booze!

Οne week has passed since our bazaar at Booze and I haven't posted about it yet!The tiredness was big - before the bazaar with all the preparations and during the bazaar, and right after it I got sick!!!!

The bazaar was awesome and I want to show you some picks ans write a few words about it!

The bazaar took place at Booze Cooperativa, a fantastic place in the center of Athens!!! We had three different spaces to exhibit our creations and visitors coming in constantly!!!

A big thank you to the girls who organized it, Anta, BlackRedDots and Zdrop and to all the visitors who honored us and I hope we will have such a successful bazaar very soon!!