Preparation info
  • Yield: Approximately

    4 Dozen

    Round Cookies.
    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in
The Christmas Cook: Three Centuries of American Yuletide Sweets

By William Woys Weaver

Published 1990

  • About

The name of this cookie refers to the fact that in many parts of Germany, the food gifts left on Christmas Eve were called Christ-kindlein, gifts of the Christ Child. In England, similar food gifts were called Baby Cakes. Both customs trace to the introduction of the Cult of the Bambino Gesú by the Franciscans in the Middle Ages.

In America, Christkindlein or Christkindl became corrupted in English to Kriss Kringle, who was thought to be the sam