Advent Calendar Recipe
Ingredients
| 1 cup plus generous | ||
| Honey | 1 Tablespoon | |
| Sugar | 1 Cup (16 tbs) | |
| Eggs | 2 | |
| Salt | 1/4 Teaspoon | |
| Candied lemon peel | 1/4 Cup (16 tbs), finley diced | |
| Candied orange peel | 1/4 Cup (16 tbs), finley diced | |
| Ground cinnamon | 1 Teaspoon | |
| Ground cloves | 1/2 Teaspoon | |
| Cardamom | 1/4 Teaspoon | |
| Baking powder | 6 Cup (16 tbs), sifted | |
| Confectioner’s sugar | 5 Cup (16 tbs) (For the icing decorations) | |
| Egg whites | 3 (For the icing decorations) | |
| Almond paste | 3 1/2 Ounce (For the St. Nicholas figure) | |
| Confectioner’s sugar | 3/4 Cup (16 tbs) (For the St. Nicholas figure) | |
| In addition | ||
| Food coloring, confectioners' gold shots (dragees) | ||
| Colored sugar sprinkles or nonpareils | ||
Directions
Butter a 13 x 17-inch (33 x 43-cm) baking sheet.
Heat the honey and sugar in a saucepan until both are dissolved.
Remove from the heat and continue to stir until the mixture is lukewarm.
Whisk the eggs with the salt.
Add the candied lemon and orange peels, eggs, spices, and flour to the honey mixture and knead together thoroughly.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. (220°C).
On a work surface sprinkled with flour, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle the size of the baking sheet.
Place it on the baking sheet, pierce at close intervals with a knitting needle, and bake 20 minutes on the center shelf of the oven.
If blisters appear in the dough, pierce again with the needle.
Let the dough cool 5 minutes, lift from the baking sheet with a spatula, and allow to cool thoroughly on a wooden board.
With a knitting needle or thin-bladed knife, mark off a border of boxes running around the entire rectangle, 5 boxes across on each short side and 7 down on each long side; each box should be just over 2 1/2 inches (6 1/2 cm) wide and just under 2 1/2 inches (6 1/2 cm) high.
Below the top row, outline a second row of boxes.
An area of about 7 7/8 x 10 1/2 inches (20 x 24 1/2 cm) will remain empty in the center.
For the icing, beat the confectioners sugar and egg whites with an electric hand beater set at lowest speed until a smooth, shiny mixture is produced.
It must be thickish, so as not to run when piped in a ribbon; beat in more sugar if necessary.
Color half of the mixture yellow with food coloring.
From the other half, color 1 tablespoon green and 1 tablespoon red.
Set aside in separate containers, covered with damp cloths.
Make a pastry cone from parchment paper; fill it with white icing mixture.
First pipe a line all around the edge, then fill in the borders of all the marked boxes.
Place gold shots at the points where lines intersect.
Pipe the numbers 1 to 23 inside the boxes and decorate the inner borders with yellow icing mixture.
Knead the almond paste with the confectioners sugar.
Color 3 small pieces of the mixture respectively brown, red, and pink; color the rest yellow and roll out all pieces about 1/16 to 1/8 (2 to 3 mm) thick.
Sketch a St Nicholas figure on cardboard and cut it out.
With the help of the pattern, cut out the trunk and arms from yellow almond paste, the face from pink, the hat from red.
Attach the pieces to the cake with a little of the icing mixture.
Form the hands and the tree trunk from brown almond paste, the nose and mouth from red.
The remaining details are added to St. Nicholas and the tree with the white and green icing mixtures, as shown in photograph.
Outline the trimming of the coat hem, sleeves, collar, and hat with icing mixture and sprinkle with colored sugar sprinkles.
Decorate the tree with gold shots.
Pipe the number 24 in the empty space, using the white and red icing mixtures.
For a base, it is best to use firm cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil, or a sheet of plywood slightly bigger than the cake.
Paste a border of baker's lace paper around the edge of the base and place the calendar on it.
Heat the honey and sugar in a saucepan until both are dissolved.
Remove from the heat and continue to stir until the mixture is lukewarm.
Whisk the eggs with the salt.
Add the candied lemon and orange peels, eggs, spices, and flour to the honey mixture and knead together thoroughly.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. (220°C).
On a work surface sprinkled with flour, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle the size of the baking sheet.
Place it on the baking sheet, pierce at close intervals with a knitting needle, and bake 20 minutes on the center shelf of the oven.
If blisters appear in the dough, pierce again with the needle.
Let the dough cool 5 minutes, lift from the baking sheet with a spatula, and allow to cool thoroughly on a wooden board.
With a knitting needle or thin-bladed knife, mark off a border of boxes running around the entire rectangle, 5 boxes across on each short side and 7 down on each long side; each box should be just over 2 1/2 inches (6 1/2 cm) wide and just under 2 1/2 inches (6 1/2 cm) high.
Below the top row, outline a second row of boxes.
An area of about 7 7/8 x 10 1/2 inches (20 x 24 1/2 cm) will remain empty in the center.
For the icing, beat the confectioners sugar and egg whites with an electric hand beater set at lowest speed until a smooth, shiny mixture is produced.
It must be thickish, so as not to run when piped in a ribbon; beat in more sugar if necessary.
Color half of the mixture yellow with food coloring.
From the other half, color 1 tablespoon green and 1 tablespoon red.
Set aside in separate containers, covered with damp cloths.
Make a pastry cone from parchment paper; fill it with white icing mixture.
First pipe a line all around the edge, then fill in the borders of all the marked boxes.
Place gold shots at the points where lines intersect.
Pipe the numbers 1 to 23 inside the boxes and decorate the inner borders with yellow icing mixture.
Knead the almond paste with the confectioners sugar.
Color 3 small pieces of the mixture respectively brown, red, and pink; color the rest yellow and roll out all pieces about 1/16 to 1/8 (2 to 3 mm) thick.
Sketch a St Nicholas figure on cardboard and cut it out.
With the help of the pattern, cut out the trunk and arms from yellow almond paste, the face from pink, the hat from red.
Attach the pieces to the cake with a little of the icing mixture.
Form the hands and the tree trunk from brown almond paste, the nose and mouth from red.
The remaining details are added to St. Nicholas and the tree with the white and green icing mixtures, as shown in photograph.
Outline the trimming of the coat hem, sleeves, collar, and hat with icing mixture and sprinkle with colored sugar sprinkles.
Decorate the tree with gold shots.
Pipe the number 24 in the empty space, using the white and red icing mixtures.
For a base, it is best to use firm cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil, or a sheet of plywood slightly bigger than the cake.
Paste a border of baker's lace paper around the edge of the base and place the calendar on it.
Chef
