Tea rolls / tea bread / tea rolls (Swabian)

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 250 g butter or margarine
• 6 eggs
• 500 g sugar
• 1 kg flour
• some cinnamon powder
• 3 g ammonium bicarbonate or
• n. B. Baking powder (amount according to package instructions)
• 4 egg yolks for brushing
• possibly condensed milk

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours

Christmas cookies

For experts: Treat like any other shortcrust pastry cutter, ideally using a teabread cutter and not sprinkling. For beginners, here’s the method using a food processor: Beat the softened butter until fluffy. Gradually add the eggs and sugar, then the cinnamon and baking powder, and finally, gradually add the sifted flour. Depending on the size of the eggs, you may not need to use all of the flour. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl easily, but not be too dry, as otherwise it may break when rolled out. Divide the dough into several portions, wrapped in cling film, and chill for 1-2 hours. Roll out in portions, not too thin (approx. 2 mm). Using a cat’s tongue-shaped teabread cutter (or another cutter), cut out biscuits, place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and chill on the balcony for at least 10 minutes, ideally. Whisk the egg yolks (you can also add a few drops of condensed milk to make them smoother or thinner…), brush them over the tea buns. Chill again (it’s not necessary, but my grandma always did). Bake at 180°C (preheated) for 10-15 minutes. They will be a bit darker than regular biscuits because of the cinnamon (these figures are for my old oven without fan; with fan, I’m guessing it’s only 160°C). I always halve the amount; the recipe comes from my great-grandmother (around 1900), who must have baked for a larger household… Hence the addition of the ammonium sulfate (there was probably no baking powder back then). You can only get that in better-stocked supermarkets (or maybe health food stores or Christmas markets), but you can safely substitute it with baking powder. I always use quite a lot of cinnamon (more like 1 teaspoon than 1 pinch for half the recipe), but you’ll have to experiment.