The aroma of homemade Christmas cookies baking in the oven is one of the greatest smells in the world. Christmas is just round the corner and the Sweet Tooth is acting up again. So it's time to fire up the oven and get ready to spread some holiday cheer and calm the taste buds.

We decide on 4 of Mutti's (Lukas's Mom) traditional cookies: Spitzbuben (literally translates to Rascals!), Anis Chräbeli (Anise biscuits with feet), Rosinenhöckerli (Raisin Knobs) and Zitronenplätzchen (Lemon cookies in different forms). 

And since every Christmas, we gift Zopf to our Friends, Lukas decides to bake a few of these as well... Haven't you heard - Bake Bread when the Oven is already Hot!! (aka make Hay while the Sun Shines!)

The day goes by quickly: measuring, whipping up eggs-butter-sugar, soaking raisins in rum for one batch, zesting lemon peels for another, preparing raspberry jelly for the third, kneading the different doughs, cooling the ones that need to be cooled down before they can be rolled, gingerly spooning the knobs on to the trays, cutting the delicate Spitzbuben and placing on the trays... Time sure flies .. before we know it, the first batch is ready and then the next.. and the next.. It's like a factory. One has to know all the steps beforehand (doesn't come easy to a novice like me.. )

Finally after all the cookies have been baked and cooled down, the time has come -- where the mouth meets the cookie and the teeth gently bite into it.. mhmmmm.. A lovely little melt-in-the-mouth indulgence full of happiness and Joy...

Christmas has never been sweeter