Winter is coming...

Christmas is coming... But is it important for me?

No, I feel nothing when you are talking about 25th of December and it’s not a tragedy for me to stay in Belfast on this day because we celebrate Christmas in Russia on the 7th of January. However, it is not so popular anyway.

But I like this Christmas spirit in Europe and it’s a pleasure for me to participate in baking cookies, decorating everything, visiting the Christmas market and so on.

The most amazing part of preparing for Christmas is “collective labour” which motivates you to gather with friends/family a long time before the holiday itself.

Although there are a lot of American Christmas films I didn’t know about the tradition to hang up Christmas calendars. Isabel and PA’s intern from Spain Jennifer taught me how to make one.

Isabel also told me a lot about Christmas time in Germany. I was happy to help her and three other Germans with cookies but I think they will never stop producing new ones. That day we had had already 6 different kinds of them and the guys were going to make more and more. As I realised the Germans make and eat these cookies the whole December and mums and grandmums bake and bake every day. Usually there are 20 or even more kinds of cookies during Christmas time. Isn’t it crazy?

At least we made PA’s office a little bit nicer and ready for Christmas. So if you are a volunteer you definitely have some time and are able to do something sweet for everyone. Don’t hesitate because your colleagues are probably in a rush before holiday.

С Рождеством! (Merry Christmas!)

Ira

I didn’t know that it would be so surprising for everyone that Germans seem to be really serious about their Christmas cookies. For me it was always nice to make them during Christmas time, especially as a child you’re really excited about decorating them and without Christmas cookies it’s just no real Christmas time. That’s why it was important for me to have this tradition during my time in Belfast as well and I really liked sharing it with some people here, who didn’t know about it before. I think that’s an important and nice part of EVS – reflecting on your own culture and traditions, valuing them and sharing them with others - but of course learning about new traditions as well. So I’m really curious what I will learn about Russian traditions (e.g. on New Year’s Eve) and the traditions of all the other people I’ll meet during my time as an EVS volunteer.

In case you also want to try those famous cookies now I have two recipes for you, which most people here seemed to enjoy a lot.

Vanillekipferl

What you need:

250g  Flour

210g  Butter

100g grounded Almonds

80g  Sugar

2 teaspoons of Vanilla extract

+ icing sugar for decorating

What you have to do:

Mix all five ingredients, cover it with kitchenfoil and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes. Make a role out of it (diameter: approx. 4cm) and cut it into slices that are 1-2cm thick. Shape these slices like crescents and put them onto a baking tray which is covered with baking paper but make sure that they are not too close to each other. Put them into the oven (circulating air, 175°C) and bake them for 20 minutes, until they start to be slightly golden-brown. After that let them cool a little bit (for approx. 3 minutes) so that they aren’t too hot or too cold and cover them with icing sugar.

Orange-Chocolate Cookies (Orangen-Schoko Plätzchen)

What you need

For the cookies:

200g Flour

60g Cornflour

1 teaspoon Baking powder

100g Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Grated zest of 1 (natural) Orange

125g Butter

100g Dark Chocolate

For the icing:

Icing sugar

Orange Juice

How to make them:

Mix flour, cornflour and baking powder and add sugar, vanilla, orange, egg and butter. Mix this, cut the chocolate into small pieces and knead it together. Then roll the dough, cover it and put it into the fridge until it is firm. (approx. 1-2h)

After that roll the dough out (not too thin!) and cut out cookies, e.g. with a small glass, a knife or special cookie shapes. Put them onto a baking tray and put it into the heated oven (180°C) for approx. 10 minutes until they are slightly golden-brown. Let the cookies cool a little bit and add some icing, if you want to.

Enjoy!

Fröhliche Weihnachten! (Merry Christmas!)

Isabel