Best Cinnamon Almond Stars Recipes

CINNAMON-ROASTED ALMONDS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Lightly grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
• Lightly beat the egg white; add water, and beat until frothy but not stiff. Add the nuts, and stir until well coated. Mix the sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the nuts. Toss to coat, and spread evenly on the prepared pan.
• Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until golden. Allow to cool, then store nuts in airtight containers.

CINNAMON STARS: ZIMTSTERNE (GERMANY)

Steps:

• Sift the confectioners' sugar.
• Put 1/2 cup of the sifted confectioners' sugar, 10 ounces (3 heaping cups) of the almonds and all the cinnamon in a food processor. Process until the nuts are finely ground, with just a few larger pieces.
• Whip the egg whites in a large, clean bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until they hold soft peaks, about 1 minute. Gradually add the remaining confectioners' sugar while whipping, until the whites are thick, creamy and somewhat stiff, about 2 minutes more. Set aside 2/3 cup of this meringue for topping the cookies.
• Fold the ground almond mixture and the lemon zest into the remaining meringue to make a stiff dough.
• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Lay a sheet of parchment or waxed paper on the work surface and lightly dust with confectioners' sugar. Turn the dough out onto the dusted paper, flatten and dust with more sugar as needed, and then lay another sheet of parchment or waxed paper on top. Roll the dough between the papers until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Flip the dough over and gently peel off a sheet of the paper. For ease when cutting, lay the paper back on the dough, flip again and gently pull off the other side of the paper so that the dough is fully released from it.
• Cut cookies with a 3-inch star cutter and place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. (Excess dough can be rerolled.) Use a small spoon, brush or offset spatula to spread the reserved meringue over the top of each cookie, taking care not to let the meringue drip over the sides. Press or sprinkle remaining sliced almonds in a decorative pattern into the meringue.
• Bake cookies until bottoms are light golden brown and meringue is set and crisp, about 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and open the oven door to release heat and dry cookies out in the oven for 10 more minutes.

CINNAMON-ALMOND STARS

Steps:

• Cookies: Pulse almonds with 1/4 cup brown sugar in a food processor until finely ground. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
• With a mixer on medium speed, beat butter with remaining 1 1/4 cups brown sugar until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in egg and Marsala until combined. Reduce speed to low and add almond and flour mixtures, beating until just combined.
• Divide dough in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Let dough stand at room temperature until pliable. Roll out one dough disk on a lightly floured surface to just under 1/4 inch thick. Using a 3 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out as many stars as possible, rerolling scraps once. Arrange stars 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Bake, rotating sheets once, until edges are golden, 9 to 11 minutes. Let cool on sheets 1 minute, then transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool completely. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
• Icing: With mixer on medium speed, beat confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons water, vanilla, and orange zest until smooth. Spoon mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a small writing tip, or a resealable plastic bag with a corner snipped off. Decorate cookies with icing and sprinkle with pearlized sugar; let set about 30 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container, between sheets of parchment or waxed paper, up to 1 week.

CINNAMON STARS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the almonds and cinnamon. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add powdered sugar while beating until egg whites become thick and glossy. Gently fold egg whites into almond mixture.
• Lightly dust a board with powdered sugar and roll egg white dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cutter dusted with powdered sugar to cut out stars. Using a spatula, carefully lift stars onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F. Bake cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, or until set through, remove from oven and brush with glaze. Continue baking for 5 more minutes. Transfer to cooling racks to cool.

ZIMTSTERNE (CINNAMON STARS)

Steps:

• Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2 and line a large baking tray (or 2 smaller) with baking parchment. Place the egg whites in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to whisk until foamy. Add the lemon juice and whisk again until they hold soft peaks.
• Slowly mix in the icing sugar and continue whisking until the mixture is stiff. Remove about a quarter of the meringue mixture and set aside to use for the topping. Put the almonds, cinnamon, ginger and lemon zest in the bowl with the meringue and mix to form a stiff, slightly sticky dough.
• To form the stars, put the dough on a piece of baking parchment lightly dusted with icing sugar and dust the top of the dough with sugar, too. Place a second sheet of parchment on top of the dough and roll out to about 0.5cm thick (the dough is a little sticky, so the parchment makes it easier to roll). Peel off the top sheet of parchment and use a 5cm star-shaped cutter to cut out as many cookies as possible. Place them on your prepared baking tray.
• Using the reserved meringue mixture, spread a small amount onto the top of each cookie, covering the entire top - you may need to add a few drops of water to make the meringue a little easier to spread. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 12-15 mins until meringue is set but not browned. Allow to cool fully before storing in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.