Mailänderli

Swiss Butter Christmas Cookies

One of the most popular Christmas cookies in Switzerland: rich, lemony butter cookies cut into shapes and glazed with egg yolk.

A Christmas classic all over Switzerland

From the Valley EchoWinter 2021/2022

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Ingredients

Tick off ingredients as you go.

Nährwerte

Nutrition · per cookie

Energy	208 kJ / 50 kcal
Fat	2.4 g
of which saturates	1.3 g
Carbohydrate	6.2 g
of which sugars	2.6 g
Fibre	0 g
Protein	0.8 g
Salt	0 g

Estimate for the original amounts, per cookie. Salt added to taste is not included. Calculated from the Swiss Food Composition Database (V7.1, FSVO).

Zubereitung

Directions

1
Beat the butter until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, vanilla sugar, eggs, salt and lemon zest and mix well.
2
Add the flour and quickly work everything into a smooth dough. Cover and let rest in a cool place for about 2 hours.
3
Roll out portions of the dough on a floured surface about 5 mm thick. Cut out shapes and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Chill for about 15 minutes.
4
Brush with the egg yolk and cream mixture.
5
Bake for about 13 minutes in the middle of an oven preheated to about 200 °C.

En Guete!

Bon appétit · Buon appetito · Bun appetit · Enjoy your meal

First published in the Arizona Swiss Society's Valley Echo newsletter, Winter 2021/2022.

A bit of history

Geschichte

Where Mailänderli comes from, gathered from reliable sources such as the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory.

Basel food historian Andreas Morel counts Mailänderli among the Swiss biscuit classics since at least the 18th century, when visitors to New Year's receptions in Basel were reportedly offered them with Hypokras, a spiced wine. A cookbook from around 1780, published in an edition by Morel, already contains a recipe, and the biscuits spread throughout German-speaking Switzerland: a Frauenfeld recipe collection of 1824 includes one, and the 1840 edition of Rytz's classic Bernese cookbook lists them as "Gâteau de Milan". Despite the name, no link to Milan has been proven. Today the Mailänderli is considered the most eaten Christmas biscuit in Switzerland.

Sources