Kaastengels cookies {Batang keju}

Christmas is around the corner. For my darling son he can't wait for this coming christmas. Keeps looking around the house to get the clue where mommy and daddy hide his presents. But for me  I don't want the Christmas season to end. It is just too fast. What I love about Christmas is I do enjoy sketching, painting and designing while doing those kind of stuff the Christmas music is in the background. I never get tired listening Christmas songs. I will miss those moment surely.

I bake Kaastengels cookies for Christmas. It is made of lots of cheese. In my country this cookies is a must to bake during the holiday. Very tasty and crunchy. 

 Kaastengels Recipe:

Ingredients:
125 gram margarine
125 gram butter
2 yolks
salt
350 gram flour
200 gram cheese (finely grated)
50 gram grated cheese for top garnish

 Directions:

Mix butter, margarine, salt and yolks together. Until everything blend well add flour and grated cheese gradually. Mix them well. I like to use speed no 2 on kitchen aid mixer.

Roll the dough and cut. The size of the stick is variety. I like to make them not to thick or long.

Glaze them with yolks and sprinkle the cheese on the top.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Pineapple cookies {Nastar}

Where I come from, Indonesia. pineapple cookies aka nastar are our family favorite cookies for Christmas. As my parents mostly had an open house for christmas, we used to make lots of these cookies. Now I live far away from them, and I try as much as I could to keep the tradition going. I got this recipe from my friend Eliza. You can check her blog HERE. 

These cookies are easy to make but are really time consuming. 

Ingredient: 

700 gr all purpose flower

4 tablespoons dry milk powder

250 gr margarine

250 gr butter

100 gr confectioners sugar

3 egg yolks + 1 whole egg

Glaze:

egg yolk

Mix together flour and milk powder.

Mix margarine, butter and confectioners sugar. Add eggs. Gradually beat the flour mixture until well combine. 

I like to refrigerate at least 2 hours before used. 

Roll dough into 1 inch ball, flatten, fill it pineapple jam and enclose it back into a ball. Place in greased baking sheets. Brush the cookies with glaze. 

Baking at 350F for 30 minutes.

Pineapple jam:

2 pineapples, grated finely

300 gr granulated sugar

cinnamon powder

Cook the pineapples with sugar and cinnamon until has no more liquid and is quite sticky. Refrigerate it for couples hours before used.