These delicious holiday recipes represent typical German Christmas food. Treat guests to a traditional German Christmas dinner with classic dishes like roasted goose legs, braised red cabbage. and dumplings, and don't forget the mulled wine and platter of gorgeous, festive cookies.
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Braised Red Cabbage with Apples and Bacon
This sweet-and-sour, traditional Bavarian braised red cabbage is always served with goose, duck, or pork. To make it, the cabbage is gently braised with tart apple, smoky bacon, orange zest, and spices.
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Pretzel and Mustard Dumplings
Dumplings made of day-old pretzels and bound with egg are common in Germany; they're a delicious way to use up stale bread and are great to serve alongside roasted goose to soak up extra gravy on the plate. The mustard is not traditional, but it pairs excellently with the pretzel rolls used here. If you can't source pretzel rolls, any plain bread rolls will do.
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Mulled Wine
This drink from Walkers restaurant in Cape Neddick, Maine, is gently infused with nutmeg, vanilla, and star anise, then lightly sweetened with honey and maple syrup. The result is a spiced, not-too-sweet mulled wine you’ll want to sip all winter long.
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Roasted Goose Legs with Sour Cherry Glaze and Gravy
Food & Wine editor Melanie Hansche reimagines the traditions of her hometown of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany, in this recipe for sour cherry–glazed roasted goose legs. In Bavaria, it's not Christmas without roast goose, but roasting individual legs makes it a more manageable endeavor.
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Brown Butter-Cardamom Spitzbuben
German for "cheeky boys," these Bavarian cookies will be the star of your holiday cookie platter. Brown butter and cardamom make this simple cookie into a fragrant treat. Take the time to freshly grind the cardamom — its robust, citrusy flavor is worth it. You can use round or fluted cutters to cut out the cookies with any shape for the center.
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Rustic Apple Tart
This is the flakiest, easiest, best pie crust we've ever tested. Master chef Jacques Pépin has created a virtually fail-safe recipe that's completely hassle-free: You don't even need to chill the dough before you roll it out.
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Fresh Cheese Spaetzle
Former F&W senior test kitchen editor Grace Parisi had to perfect her spaetzle-making skills to prevent her German au pair from becoming homesick. Germans typically use quark when making spaetzle, but Parisi's au pair told her that the type available in the United States isn't curdy enough. So Parisi uses small-curd cottage cheese in the spaetzle and makes the chive sauce with tangy quark.
Warm Potato Salad with Pancetta and Brown Butter Dressing
Here, brown butter is whisked into a tangy, mustardy dressing for creamy fingerling potatoes. The potato salad can be served warm or at room temperature.
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Lentil Soup with Smoked Sausage
For a special version of this hearty stew, use imported Vertes du Puy lentils, which have a rich, earthy flavor. A firm whole-grain bread would be ideal alongside.
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Sautéed German Sausages with Bacon and Apple Sauerkraut
In Germany's Pfalz region, cooks braise sauerkraut with onions, apples, seasonings, a touch of sugar, and a little of the region's Riesling wine, creating an ideal accompaniment for juicy weisswurst or bratwurst.
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Hausfreunde
This classic German recipe calls for dipping buttery almond-apricot sandwich cookies in bittersweet chocolate. The phenomenal results are well worth the effort.
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Haselnussmakronen (Raspberry-Hazelnut Macaroons)
These German raspberry-hazelnut macaroons require just five ingredients and are extremely no-fuss. Says Berlin-based blogger Luisa Weiss, "You just throw the dough together, heat up some jam, and you're almost there."
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Lebkuchen
Lebkuchen are traditional, delicately spiced German molasses-ginger cookies. This recipe from mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler was passed down from his great-grandmother to his grandmother to his uncle.
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Classic Cheese Fondue
Chef Ryan Hardy makes his luxurious fondue with two kinds of Swiss cheese (Emmentaler and Gruyère) and two kinds of spirits (white wine and Kirsch), all traditional ingredients. Some of the dipping items are also classic, like cubes of crusty bread and pickles.
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Basler Leckerli
These spiced cookie bars are an essential part of a German Christmas. They're an excellent make-ahead sweet; in fact, they get more tender and flavorful the longer they sit.
Treat guests to a traditional German Christmas dinner with classic dishes like roasted goose legs, braised red cabbage.and dumplings, and don't forget the mulled wine and platter of gorgeous, festive cookies.
In Germany, the evening meal is called Abendessen or Abendbrot – the latter is actually more like a supper, and literally translates to 'evening bread'. Following a hearty lunch, Germans traditionally enjoy a lighter dinner, with breads, hams, sausages, cheeses, and pickles all being very common.
In Germany, people use an Adventskranz, or advent wreath, with four candles on it to celebrate the four advents or the four Sundays before Christmas. On each of the four Sundays preceding Christmas Eve, a candle is lit. After lightning the first candle, the Christmas season officially begins.
Sauerbraten is regarded as one Germany's national dishes and there are several regional variations in Franconia, Thuringia, Rhineland, Saarland, Silesia and Swabia. This pot roast takes quite a while to prepare, but the results, often served as Sunday family dinner, are truly worth the work.
In German, the phrase "Frohe Weihnachten!" which translates to "Merry Christmas” is commonly used. If you prefer a more neutral expression, say "Frohes Fest!" ("Happy Celebration!") or "Schöne Feiertage!" ("Beautiful Holidays!").
seasonal sweet treats to try at German Christmas markets ↴
stollen/Christstollen. Starting this list of German Christmas market desserts off strong with Stollen, which is sometimes referred to as German Christmas Cake. ...
Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Other types of poultry, roast beef, or ham, are also used. Pumpkin or apple pie, raisin pudding, Christmas pudding, or fruitcake are staples for dessert.
The Frankfurt Christmas Market is one of Germany's most impressive. The Römerberg square is transformed into a magical wonderland, featuring over 200 beautifully decorated stalls. With its sheer size and vast number of visitors, the Frankfurt Christmas Market is one of the largest and best Christmas markets in Germany.
Glühwein is THE Christmas market drink. At this point, it is basically synonymous with the holiday itself. In case you don't know, Glühwein is a hot mulled wine served in ceramic mugs.
It offers a variety of great food stalls such as Potato Twisters, Spätzle, and Flammkuchen. The obligatory mulled wine can be found here too but I prefer it with a little twist: have a baked apple punch. Seriously, at a Christmas market, you can find almost any classic German dish, that you need to try!
While 25th December is still a national holiday in Germany, it's celebrated differently to how we do in England. Traditionally, the family will gather around a heartwarming meal, attend church, children will play with their new toys and the white candle of the Advent wreath (the one in the middle) will be lit.
The meal on Heiliger Abend (Christmas Eve), to many people in Germany, is just as important as the one served on Christmas Day itself. Traditionally, people eat fish with Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) and Sauerkraut.
One legend has it that Queen Elizabeth I was gobbling up goose when she heard the British had defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, ordering all of England to mimic her dinner at Christmas. The tradition then presumably spread from England to Germany, where it stuck.
In Germany, a Christmas breakfast usually consists of hearty bread, cold meats and cheeses, and eggs, alongside a number of regional dishes; in the north, many families will have fish with their breakfast. After breakfast, there will be plenty of snacks to keep you from feeling peckish until dinner time.
Introduction: My name is Lakeisha Bayer VM, I am a brainy, kind, enchanting, healthy, lovely, clean, witty person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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