APH-Adventskalender Special 2017_14th

►APH-Adventskalender ⑭ - Mecklenburg-Vorpommern/Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania◄
Spritzgebäck/Spritz

Spritzgebäck is a type of German and Alsatian-Mosellan Christmas biscuit or Christmas cookie made of flour, butter, sugar and eggs. When made correctly, the cookies are crisp, fragile, somewhat dry, and buttery. They include Teegebäck/tea biscuits, Spritzkringel, Bärentatzen/bear paws, flammende Herzen/flaming hearts und Buchstabenformen/letter shapes („S“-Gebäck/"S"-pastry). The German verb spritzen means to squirt in English. As the name implies, these cookies are made by extruding, or "squirting," the dough with a press fitted with patterned holes or with a cake decorator, or pastry bag, to which a variety of nozzles may be fitted.
Spritzgebäck is a popular pastry in Germany and served often during Christmas season, when parents commonly spend afternoons baking with their children for one or two weeks. Traditionally, parents bake Spritzgebäck using their own special recipes, which they pass down to their children.