the United States, by the ton all year round And one of our after-school tasks was putting 25 pounds of spritz cookie dough through a commercial cookie press and placing the cookies on sheet pans while my dad was taking his afternoon nap Alsace has a huge tradition of festive Christmas cookies They are called bredele de Noël —little Christmas breads— and we know that the tradition goes back at least to the fourteenth century, although Alsatians will tell you that they have been making these cookies since the beginning of time They include such family favorites as rich, buttery Christmas Sablés and Cinnamon Stars, or Zimtsterne Hundreds of years ago the dough for cookies like these was pressed into carved wooden molds, some of which you can still see in museums in the region The cookies were sold in the Strasbourg Sablés Market, which began in the sixteenth century and still takes place every year during the month of December With over 300 vendors around the famous Strasbourg Cathedral, today this is one of the ten most visited Christmas markets in the world You will find many of the cookies in this chapter there, as well as other Alsatian Christmas specialties like stollen, if you ever have the good fortune to visit Strasbourg at this time of year Some of the recipes in this chapter are French classics: Almond Tuiles are deceptively easy to make and so good that you will have a hard time keeping them in the jar Palmiers, also known as Elephant Ears, showcase the wonders of flaky puff pastry combined with caramelized sugar Other ... and we know that the tradition goes back at least to the fourteenth century, although Alsatians will tell you that they have been making these cookies since the beginning of time They include such family... Zimtsterne Hundreds of years ago the dough for cookies like these was pressed into carved wooden molds, some of which you can still see in museums in the region The cookies were sold in the Strasbourg Sablés... Market, which began in the sixteenth century and still takes place every year during the month of December With over 300 vendors around the famous Strasbourg Cathedral, today this is one of the ten most visited