We love baking during the Christmas season and these traditional Dutch Christmas Wreath Cookies we make every year. They are very specific to December as they look so pretty in the tree, and children love making them!

Here is my recipe:

Dutch Christmas Wreaths Cookies

• 1 vanilla pod

• 125 g butter (room temperature)

• 100 g caster sugar

• 1 egg

• 200 g plain white flour

• a pinch of salt

• to decorate: 1 egg yolk, 2 teaspoons shaved almonds and 100 g powdered sugar

Cream the butter with the sugar (beat for 4 minutes). Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla pod down its length. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and add to mixture, together with the egg. Sift the flour over the mixture and add the salt. Mix / knead quickly with your hands to a nice, even dough.

Cover and leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour. Then, starting with half of the dough, roll out to 5 mm thickness. Punch out round cookies, punch out the holes. Keep rolling out the scraps until the dough is finished, while placing the cookies on lined baking sheets. Paint half of the cookies with the egg yolk and sprinkle with the shaved almonds. Leave the other cookies plain.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a 160°C preheated oven until light brown. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack. When cooled down, decorate the other half of the cookies with a frosting you create by mixing the powdered sugar with a tiny bit of water. Leave to dry. Store in an airtight container or hang on the branches of your Christmas tree! (In that case, eat them within a day or they will get soft.)

Happy baking and happy holidays everyone!

xxx Esther