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I Love Cinnamon Stars

Zimtstern - Joujou  / pixelio.de 
It's true, we Swiss eat cookies all year round but there are certain types of cookies that we only eat in December. Some of us might start eating Christmas cookies in November or others even as early as October because we can't wait for the Christmas season or - which is the case more often than not - we simply are looking for any pretext to be eating something sweet.

Famous Swiss Cinnamon Stars

Now, Zimtsterne (Swiss German: Zimetschtern, English: Cinnamon Stars) are on of the most popular Christmas cookies in Switzerland. A Zimtstern is a star shaped almond cookie with lots of cinnamon in it and a merengue on top.

Although some Germans claim that Zimtsterne are in fact a German cookie, they are certainly very popular in Switzerland and have become an almost iconic Swiss item. So much that even a clothing company named "Zimtstern" was founded in Zurich. Their brand logo is a combination of mountain and a cinnamon star. Nice, right?! 

Zimtsterne are so Swiss that in 1998 Zurich song writer Andrew Bond wrote a Swiss German version of the famous Christmas carol "Jingle Bells" and named it "Zimetschtern han i gern", which means 'I like cinnamon stars'. I'm assuming you know the melody, so I'll only give you the words of the chorus. Most of the Swiss Christmas cookie names I've already translated and explained in the Christmas Dictionary.

Zimetschtern han i gern (by Andrew Bond)

Zimetschtern han i gern
I like cinnamon stars
Mailänderli au
Mailänderli as well
Tirggel und Spitzbuebe
Tirggel and Spitzbuebe
und Ring us Willisau
and Rings of Willisau

Läckerli - liebe-n-i
Läckerli - I love them
Chräbeli no mee
Chräbeli much more
Totebeinli, Pfäffernüss
Totebeinli, Pfäffernüss
mit Puderzuckerschnee
with snow from powdered sugar

If your mouth is watering at the mere thought of merengue topped cinnamon stars then you might want to try yourself at making a batch. I found this recipe in English: Zimtsterne Cinnamon Stars

Have a look at this full version of "Zimetschtern han i gern" and sing a long!






© 2015 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOROUS GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Comments

  1. Expat with KidsDecember 19, 2015 at 4:16 PM

    I absolutely love the Zimtstärnli song. I have never heard of it before! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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