Christmas cookies tradition resists time between families in brazil – entertainment

Brazilian Christmas may not be cold or snowy, but the descendants of European immigrants don’t give up on preserving the tradition, despite the December heat.

Southern tradition

In Blumenau (SC), the family of music teacher Camilla Werling has been repeating the same ritual for generations – at the end of November, the clan of German origin begins producing cookies to be served to friends and relatives. “It’s our way of saying, ‘You’re so special to us, have a good year,'” says Camilla.

The recipe is centuries old. It was brought from Germany by his grandparents, back in the 1920s, and has been reproduced in much the same way since then – for example, the amount of cassava flour is measured in plates, as was customary in the old days.

When I was little, we would go to my grandmother Miriam’s house and fill huge tins of cookies. The sugar drawings were the way the kids could help,” says Camilla.

At 88 years old, owner Miriam Engels handed the baton to her daughter, Maria Salett, and granddaughter, who ensure that the tradition is not lost.

Cut using different moulds, the cookies are shaped like bells, reindeer, Christmas trees and snowmen and are carefully decorated with colorful royal icing – in the past, this coating was prepared with icing sugar, egg whites and lemon juice, but Camila started using the ready-made preparation , just add water.

This is the most delicate moment in the process, as it requires a firm hand. “After slathering the icing on with a knife, we improvise mini pastry bags, cut off the top of the plastic bags, and finish with the designs.”

You can follow the recipe for this delicious family below:

Big people cookie

The biscuits that Heidi Marie Brophy Ximenes Diniz and her son, Pedro Diniz, prepare at the combination restaurant and café Ghansaral, in the southern district of São Paulo, also have a German accent. Granddaughter and grandson of immigrants who It has already appeared here in Nossa no Resta di Familiathe two of them had just professionalized a habit they had learned in the family.

Germans really love this time of year. On the four Sundays before Christmas, families gather to bake biscuits and lollipops. [bolo de frutas secas] And sitting at the table for an afternoon coffee, with cold cuts, bread and lots of butter, ”says Pedro.

The recipes reproduced by the duo are more sophisticated and the decor is less childish. a Vanilkipferlhalf-moon-shaped, buttery and flavored with vanilla and almond, while spitspoppen It has a star shape and is filled with red fruits.

Nothing compares, however, to the complex recipe for Springerlywhich takes fennel seeds and grows a lot in the oven, until it acquires the shape of a cake, also decorated with an engraved Christmas star.

eat play

crack in the making cake 60-year-old pastry chef Patty Biffa not only designs Christmas cakes – she creates real figurines every year, which also serve as edible toys. The dough is inspired by Gingerbread Which has been successful in the United States, it is darkened by adding chocolate, ginger and spices.

Stacked and frozen cookies can turn into a Christmas tree or a 3D house, so kids can play assembling and decorating with candies and toppings.

It is unfortunate that the Brazilian Christmas heat prevents the biscuits from remaining crunchy for several days,” says Patty.

Another reason to devour them quickly.