GERMAN CINNAMON STARS

It is amazing how fast the year is proceeding and how fast the holidays are coming closer. I love winter and Christmas for the warm, comforting atmosphere, the family time, the magnificient spectacle nature shows and of course for all its cookies, cakes and entrees.

My favorite Christmas cookie of all times are so-called cinnamon stars. They are a traditional German cookie sold and baked around Christmas. Last year, when I was in New York over Christmas I could not find one single cinnamon star and my heart was breaking. I can't imagine Christmas without them and I am not patient to wait for them until December ;)

Consequently, they were the first cookie that came to my mind when I tought about starting raw vegan Christmas baking. This will be my first raw Christmas and I am super excited. Especially because my family loves raw vegan food as well and I have a plan to convince them to join my raw vegan Christmas menu :)

In my opinion, now that Halloween is over, it is fully legitimate to start holiday recipe testing, don't you think? There will be lots of holiday cookie, cake and menu suggestions on this blog and the first are my beloved  traditional German cinnamon stars!

My raw vegan German cinnamon stars consist of a base of crunchy almonds, hazelnuts and dates spiced with winter spices as cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and clove and they are topped with a sweet creamy cinnamon icing.

If you love Christmas cookies as much as I do, you have to try them! They are a beautiful, sweet treat for this season and will be loved by all your family and friends. They make nice presents too :)

GERMAN CINNAMON STARS

Makes 10 cinnamon stars

Base

1 cup almond flour (around 1.5 cups almonds)

1/4 cup whole hazelnuts

10 pitted dates

1 T cinnamon powder

1 t vanilla extract

nutmeg, clove to taste

Icing

1/2 cup cashews, soaked for 1 h

juice of 1 lemon

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t vanilla extract

For the base, pulse almond flour and dates until ground. Add whole hazelnuts and pulse until the mass is well mixed but still contains small nut pieces.

If you don't have almond flour on hand, pulse almonds first, then add dates.

Season with cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and clove.

Form the dough into a ball and roll out (shape of a rectangle).

Place in the fridge over night or until hardened.

The next day, cut out cookies. Blend cashews, lemon juice, cinnamon and vanilla and top cookies with icing. Freeze until solid. Thaw cookies for 1 h in the fridge before eating. They keep in the fridge for 5 days and in the freezer longer than a week.

Enjoy!