The best recipes for the festive season

from the Best Alpine Wellness Hotels

What could be better than conjuring up delicious treats with your family during Advent while listening to Christmas carols? We have put together some recipes for sweet temptations from the Best Alpine Wellness Hotels for you. They are easy to make at home and will delight you and your loved ones.

Because homemade always tastes best!

Vanilla crescent cookies – Josef Stock's favourite biscuits

Ingredients:

300 g plain flour
250 g butter
120 g ground hazelnuts
100 g icing sugar
20 g vanilla sugar
Pinch of salt
Vanilla sugar & icing sugar for sprinkling

Preparation:

Knead all ingredients well to form a dough.
Leave the dough to rest in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
Form crescents and place on a prepared baking tray.
Bake at 165°C - 175°C for 10 - 14 minutes.
Carefully roll the vanilla crescent cookies, while still hot, in a mixture of vanilla sugar and icing sugar until they are nicely coated on all sides.
Allow to cool and store in a cool, dry place or enjoy immediately.

The STOCK team hopes you enjoy recreating these recipes.

Honey and cinnamon parfait from the Nesslerhof

Ingredients:

3 class M egg yolks
2 class M eggs
270 g forest honey
150 ml milk
250 ml whipping cream
Cling film
Cinnamon for sprinkling

Preparation:

Place 3 egg yolks, 2 eggs, forest honey and milk in a metal bowl and beat with a hand mixer over a bain-marie for approx. 10 minutes until it reaches a thick, creamy consistency.
Then place the bowl in cold water and allow the mixture to cool completely, stirring occasionally.
Whip the cream with a hand mixer until stiff.
Line small moulds or a long loaf tin (approx. 20 cm long) with cling film.
Fold the cream into the cooled mixture and then pour into the mould.
Leave to set in the freezer for at least 3 hours.
Then serve and enjoy.

The Nesslerhof tip – garnish with almond slivers and seasonal fruits. Not only does it taste delicious, it also looks stunning.

The Nesslerhof kitchen team wishes you bon appétit.

Vanilla crescent cookies, Sacher style

Ingredients for the dough:

250g flour
100g almond flour
70g sugar
A pinch of salt
1 vanilla pod
200g cold butter
25g egg yolk

Ingredients for the topping:

150g icing sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

Preparation:

Mix the flour, almond flour, sugar, salt and cold butter (cut into small cubes) together until you have a crumbly dough.
Add the egg yolk and knead everything into a smooth dough.
Wrap the finished dough in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Carefully shape small balls of dough into crescents.
Bake on a baking tray at 180°C for 10-12 minutes until the Kipferl are lightly golden.
Sprinkle the still-warm biscuits with the mixture of icing sugar and vanilla sugar and leave to cool completely.

Tip from patissière Marisol: ‘These biscuits taste best when they've been left to stand for a few days – so feel free to bake them in advance so you can enjoy them at any time during Advent!’

The Alpin Resort Sacher team wishes you every success!

LEEBkuchen from the Hotel Hochschober

Ingredients for approx. 20 LEEBkuchen:

250 g softened butter
200 g brown cane sugar
2 eggs
400 g spelt flour
100 g coarsely chopped almonds
100 g chopped dark chocolate
1 level tablespoon baking powder, dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water

Preparation:

Prepare the dough: Cream the butter and sugar, then stir in the eggs one at a time until the mixture is smooth.
Add the dry ingredients: Add the flour, almonds and chocolate. Dissolve the baking powder in hot water and add to the mixture. Mix everything together to form a smooth dough.
Portion and bake: Place small mounds of dough on a baking tray using a tablespoon, leaving enough space between them as the LEEBkuchen will rise.
Bake in a preheated fan oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
Leave to cool and enjoy!

Don't forget – the secret ingredient of love is what makes LEEBkuchen truly unique, Barbara Leeb tells us. With that, the recipe is bound to be a success

The Hotel Hochschober team wishes you lots of fun baking and even more enjoyment eating!

Bee sting - biscuits from the Alpenrose

Ingredients for the dough:

300 g flour
200 g butter
75 g icing sugar
1 egg

Ingredients for the filling:

85 g white chocolate coating
30 g cream
13 g coconut oil

Ingredients for the topping:

75 g butter
75 g sugar
1 teaspoon honey
100 g flaked almonds
3 tablespoons milk

Preparation:

Place the flour, butter, icing sugar and eggs in a bowl and mix well, then chill the dough.
For the topping, melt the butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan. Add the almonds and bring everything to the boil briefly.
Then remove from the heat and stir in the milk. Allow the topping to cool completely.
Roll out the dough thinly on a lightly floured work surface and cut into 3x4 cm rectangles.
Spread the cooled topping on half of the rectangles and bake in the oven at 200°C for approx. 8-10 minutes.
For the filling, finely chop the chocolate coating and melt in a bain-marie, add the cream and coconut oil and leave to cool.
Put the filling in a piping bag and pipe onto the biscuits without topping.
Place the biscuits with topping on top and leave to set in the fridge.
Be sure to store the biscuits in the fridge.

The Alpenrose team wishes you lots of fun and success with your baking.

Grandma Maria's vanilla crescent cookies from the forest retreat

Irene Auer from the Waldklause says that she got this family recipe from her grandmother Maria. ‘When the whole house smelled of almonds and vanilla, everyone knew that Christmas was just around the corner.’

Ingredients:

500 g flour
100 g ground almonds
350 g butter
200 g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 pinch of salt
1/2 packet vanilla sugar

Preparation:

Mix the flour, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, butter (cut into small pieces) and ground almonds into a smooth dough.
Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Roll the dough into a log (3-4 cm in diameter) on a floured work surface and cut into 1-1.5 cm thick slices.
Shape the slices into crescents and place on baking paper.
Bake at 175°C for approx. 12-15 minutes in a fan oven until light brown.
While still warm, roll the crescents in a mixture of icing sugar and vanilla sugar.
Allow to cool thoroughly, then enjoy.

The Waldklause team wishes you lots of fun baking!