Nothing says “Christmas” like homemade cookies. And, nothing invokes memories of Christmases past like the aroma and taste of fresh baked goodies, indulging in a box of chocolate covered cherries, or opening a holiday popcorn tin from the local department store. It seems that the love of Christmas treats is one thing that people around the world have in common. Just ask the royal family.
Last December, Buckingham Palace shared the recipe for the royal family’s favorite Christmas cookie, courtesy of the royal pastry chefs. The recipe may look a bit confusing to bakers on this side of the pond as it features some uniquely British ingredients, so we’re going to translate for you so you can enjoy these tasty, festive cookies for yourself!
To make Cinnamon Stars you need to start with a kitchen scale to guarantee the best possible result, as professional bakers (like the royal pastry chefs) use weight to measure their ingredients as opposed to measuring cups. The ingredients list is simple. You will need:
360g Icing Sugar (powdered sugar)
85g Egg White
20g Lemon Juice
300g Ground Almonds
115g Mixed Peel (candied lemon and/or orange peel)
½ Lemon, zested
12g Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground Cloves
Don’t be intimidated by any ingredients you may not recognize. Thanks to Amazon, mixed peel can be at your doorstep within a couple of days. Ground almonds (almond flour) are readily available at most grocery stores.
You will notice in the full recipe post (linked below) that the instructions say to bake the cookies at 160 C fan. This is the equivalent of 350 degrees F, and fan refers to convection setting. But, these will still turn out great if you don’t have a convection option.
We also suggest that when cutting out the cookies, push the cookies from the bottom out of the top of the cutter for best results.
Get the full recipe for the royal family’s Cinnamon Stars at the Buckingham Palace website here. And watch the royal pastry chefs prepare these beautiful cookie gems in the video below.