OK so before I start I will say that I love my in-laws to bits..... BUT theres this cooking thing we have going on.
I am always bickering ( with good humor) with my FIL about his cooking I say he over cooks pasta he says I know nothing about food as I'm English etc etc

ANYWAY my MIL asked my husband if she should make him some cookies to bring home (he's in CH now) and he says no that I will make some so MIL suggests he goes to micros and buys cookie dough !!!!

So game on I need to make the best Xmas cookies ever... except I'm having trouble finding a recipe for those little gingerbread (ish) little stars with the white icing on that husband LOVES..... can anyone help ?? PLEASE ??

Just to clarify I am really good at cooking and even baking I just never made cookies and I don't even really like eating them

Personally, I'd just go to Migros and buy the cookie dough... you may find that it's your MIL's little secret!

http://www.about.ch/culture/food/zimtsternen.html

My mother makes something like this:
http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/76254...usfreunde.html

The dough is usually the least of the worries.

here's a recipe for German style gingercookies, found on an Aussie website :-)

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/1872...bread+biscuits

unfortunately we are living in the US until next year so it would make very expensive cookies

THANK YOU !! thats exactly the ones....

apparently I need my own 'shape' because everyone in the family and neighbors have their own shape and they exchange and it becomes a huge unspoken competition....so I need to perfect mine before next year and then I can be all blasé and say oh I just threw them together lol

I am sure you will find a great recipe on the site below

www.taste.com.au

I find a lot of my recipes on here

If you get by in German, you will find the Betty Bossy cookie book. Very simple & yummy recipes ! otherwise, the William Sonoma website is a great place as well.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/pages...l?cm_type=gnav

My older sis and I used to make Stained Glass Window Cookies for Christmas when we were younger. I don't think the recipe is too difficult, she was probably 15'ish to my 13'ish when we started the tradition.



I like them because they are edible AND they look pretty also. Of course, solid cookie edges could be decorated in some way to make them even more elaborate if one likes.

Ah, Zimtsterne. Notoriously difficult to get right. They require some time of aging/storage after baking so soften up a little bit, otherwise they will be very very hard, bordering on the inedible, so you can't make them in a last minute push. There's a famous german cartoon that suggests that Zimsterne are actually fretwork...

(Do NOT follow the cooking instructions below, especially not the 6-8 hrs in the oven)

They look great Peg A, I've never seen any like that before. Might give them a go myself.

If you add some weed to the mixture......it should make for a very interesting xmas with the in-laws

cheers
SC

Here are some tips for Zimtstern
- buy a fresh bottle of ground Cinnamon
- do not over mix! fold in almonds
- when rolling the dough out, use either a silicone baking sheet or clingwrap
they stick like crazy
- dip the cookie cutter in powdered sugar, and wash it, every now and then.

when you put the biscuits in the oven with the frosting, watch consistently, otherwise the frosting will turn brown.

Good Luck!