As we head into the holiday season, I start to think about all the different special holiday cookies I like to make. This year I have a new addition; Berliner Brot! These chewy cookies are unlike American treats; they are fragrant with candied citrus peel, allspice and cinnamon, toasted almonds, and shaved dark chocolate, and have a lovely rum glaze!

I learned about this cookie from my friend Ruth. She and I met during the early days of the Covid lockdown. We are both in our neighborhood Buy Nothing group, and we began to give things to each other. I actually just looked back on our history, and it was back in 2017! I gave Ruth a set of dishes, and then later she gave me a set of beautiful beaded napkin rings, which we use every Thanksgiving.

Ruth’s napkin rings

But we didn’t meet in person until Covid. It was at that point that we started giving each other all sorts of things, and found out we had a lot of common interests, including gardening, knitting, and…. baking!!! Ruth was a new mom in 2020. Here is a photo of her reading to her sweet baby boy a Dr. Seuss book that we gave to her.

Ruth with Rhys

On one of our exchanges during Christmas 2020, Ruth included a little bag of cookies. At first bite I became thoroughly obsessed! I grilled her with questions, only to find out that one of the ingredients her mother mailed to her from Germany! I have never forgotten how wonderful those cookies were, and have been wanting to recreate them ever since.

They are fun to make, and lovely to give during the holidays.

Just recently, Ruth gave me the recipe, which was in German haha… Millie and I tried to figure it all out, which was a challenge! There were also some ingredients that I didn’t think I could find here. Luckily another friend of mine was going to Germany and asked if she could bring anything back for me. Well, yes! She brought me back some candied citrus peel, and that’s all I needed to get started!

Orangeat and Zitronat… the real deal!

I know you can find candied citrus peel here, but Ruth said it wasn’t the same, and I believe her. So back to the recipe. I felt a little intimidated by it being in German, so I did some research, and found a recipe for Berliner Brot online that was in English, and basically had the same ingredient list as Ruth’s. Bingo! I made it a couple of times following the new recipe which had less sugar. Of course I had to drop some off to Ruth so she could try them. She thought they were a little dry (due to less sugar, and maybe over-baking?), and I agreed. So I used a combination of Ruth’s recipe and the new one, baked for less time, and I love the results! Maybe these will become part of your holiday cookie list too.

Berliner Brot

(Adapted from Ruth’s recipe and this one!)

Makes about 6 dozen

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons warm water
• 1 1/4 cup (250 grams) dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (70 grams) maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) candied lemon or orange peel*
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (75 grams) chopped/shaved dark chocolate**
• Butter or margarine for greasing the pan

For the glaze:

• 1 cup (100 grams) powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon dark rum
• 2 tablespoons water (you may not need all of it)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Place almonds on cookie sheet and bake in 350° oven for ten minutes. Remove and let cool.
2. While the almonds are baking, chop the chocolate with a sharp knife and set aside. When I do this, most of it ends up being shaved pieces, but there are also some bigger pieces. It’s nice that way!
3. Increase oven temperature to 400°.
4. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs with the warm water, then add the brown sugar little by little. Beat until light in color and nice and thick.
5. Beat in the maple syrup and dark rum.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and allspice.
7. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed just until blended.
8. Roughly chop the cooled almonds. Stir in the chopped almonds, chocolate, and candied peel, using a wooden spoon.
9. Butter a large (13″ x 18″) cookie sheet. If you use something like Earth Balance to grease the sheet, these cookies are completely dairy-free.
10. Take a sheet of aluminum foil that is a little longer than the width of the cookie sheet, and fold until you have a one inch strip. Butter the foil strip. Stay with me here.
11. Pour the cookie batter (it will be thick!) onto the cookie sheet, and spread it to a 1/2″ thickness. You will not fill your cookie sheet completely. For me, it ends up being about 13″ x 11″. Take the buttered foil strip and press it against the edge of the batter to keep it from spreading. (see photos!)
12. Bake on center rack of preheated 400° oven for 20 minutes.
13. While cookies are baking, make the glaze. Mix together the powdered sugar, rum, and 1 tablespoon water. If it’s too thick, continue to add water a few drops at a time until it is a glaze consistency, thick and glossy.
14. When cookies are done baking (they will be firm to the touch), remove from oven and glaze while still hot. Let cookies cool a little bit, then cut into 1 1/2″ squares while still warm, using a sharp knife. Let the cookies continue to cool on the cookie sheet. When completely cool, you can store in an airtight container, or if you would like them a little dryer, you can separate the cookies and leave on the cookie sheet a little longer to dry out, and then store them in an airtight container. If you find that the cookies seem too moist (i.e. sticky on the bottom), you can put them back in a 350° oven for ten more minutes. They might even get crunchy on the edges while still remaining chewy inside. It all depends on how you like them. These cookies get better with age, which I appreciate in a holiday cookie***. Enjoy!

Notes:

*Of course I used up my German candied peel during my practice batches, so I ended up using some candied orange peel that I got at a fancy grocery store, and in the absence of the real deal, this works just fine.

**I use Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar, and 6 little squares end up being about 75 grams. See pictures! And don’t even think about using chocolate chips. They don’t behave the same way in baked good as shaved or chopped chocolate.

***Like many spiced holiday cookies, these really benefit from a day or two or three of rest to let the flavors mingle and the texture settle down a bit. They are perfect for gift giving or sending in the mail, because they just keep getting better!

****If you want to side-step the whole aluminum foil thing, just make a batch and a half of the recipe, and that fits nicely into a standard cookie sheet (13″ x 18″). Or, you could halve the recipe and use an 8″ x 8″ pan.

Here are a few pictures of the process that might be helpful. I might add more pictures later, so check back in.

Go get a dark chocolate bar.

Mostly shaved, with some slightly bigger pieces.

Roughly chopped almonds.

Orangeat and Zitronat

Eggs, water, and dark brown sugar. Not mixed enough!!!

Now it’s mixed enough.

Smooth and glossy after adding maple syrup and rum.

Sprinkle add-ins on top and fold in.

Spread on buttered cookie sheet.

You’re looking for about a 1/2 inch thickness.

Press buttered foil up against edge of batter.

This looks done!

Glazed and cut, and sampled, apparently…

Separated on cookie sheet to dry out a bit.

Store in a tupperware container.

Or store in an airtight jar. They look so pretty!

This is a batch and a half – it fits the cookie sheet perfectly!