(Recipe at the end of the post)

Teacher: Do you say prayers before you eat?
Student: No, I don’t have to – my Mom’s a good cook.
(I don’t know who it’s from, but I love it!)

Okay, so I might have used some poetic licence here when I translated the German Nussecken into English. Triangular Nut Cookies might be the more appropriate translation, but I still prefer Nut Corners. Last Saturday I spent a very pleasant day with our friend Anja baking Christmas cookies – she deserves all the credit for the Black and White cookies as well as these luvly Nut Corners. She definitely falls into “no need to pray” cooking section.

I apologise for the out-of-focus photo of Anja (and I’m sure Jasmine too will be thrilled that I photographed her from behind), but I am battling with my brand new camera. I refuse to accept that it’s operator error damn it! The Husband and Herbert (Anja’s Husband) spent the day putting a woodstove into our new/old camper van and we stayed nice and warm in the kitchen making all kinds of wonderful cookies and even a Jewish bread (more about that later).

It’s a German tradition to make lots of different varieties of cookies and I can only commend and encourage this wonderful tradition. Between Stollen (see this post for a recipe http://www.acookonthefunnyside.com/Christmas-market-Heilbronn-and-Christ... ) and cookies, one can expect to gain 4 pounds at least. A week. Which leaves another 4 pounds for the other wonderful goodies. DO NOT read this post until the New Year (http://www.acookonthefunnyside.com/content/secret-why-french-women-dont-... ). So without further ado, here is the recipe for you.

NUSSECKEN / NUT COOKIES

For the pastry
300 g flour
130 g sugar
130 g of butter
2 eggs
2 pkt vanilla sugar OR 1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp baking powder

For the topping:
2 tbsp apricot jam (see note below)
200 g butter
200 g sugar
2 pkt vanilla sugar OR 1 tsp vanilla essence
200 g ground hazelnuts OR almonds
200 g ground walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds (see note below)
4 tablespoons water

1 bar of chocolate

METHOD:
1. Mix all the dough ingredients together to form a smooth dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface and place on baking paper on a baking tray. Spread with the apricot jam. (NOTE: Should you not have apricot jam, my mother-in-law successfully used a mild orange marmalade instead.)
2. Melt the butter, add the sugars and then add the water and nuts and combine. Spread the mass over the “jammy” dough. (NOTE: Anja used ½ walnuts and half almonds and I LOVE this combo, but try whatever nuts you have on hand. Anja and her mother-in-law recommend not using all walnuts as this is apparently too bitter. Such a pity as I LOVE walnuts.)
3. Bake in a preheated oven, 175-180°C, for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly and then cut into triangles. Cool completely before partially coating in chocolate.
4. Melt the chocolate (either over a double boiler or in the microwave) and either dip or “paint” the corners. Dipping can result in lots of bits in your chocolate, but produces a more even finish. We painted or rather blotted on the chocolate and I liked this method best of all. Anja sprinkled some crushed almonds on while the chocolate was still soft and this looks great. Give it a try! Deelicious.

(Original recipe is from Tanja on chefkoch.de)