Berliner Kranzer

This is a wonderful recipe. The cookies are as beautiful as they are delicious. I would like to offer a hint, lightly flour your hands when working the dough into ropes, it makes it so much easier and chilling the dough slightly if it gets too soft does the trick. Try these cookies, the orange zest makes them wonderful!

Great recipe. It takes time, but these cookies are very impressive on a plate. Personally I think it's essential to use fresh orange peel and I also like to add a little cinnamon and ground clove to spice it up a little.

I waited for them to turn a bit golden, they did not, took them out they were hard and bland. Waste of ingredients. I was so excited to make cookies for my German family too!

These are my husbands favorite christmas cookie! They are alot of work but they are so worth it. We also substitute the candied fruit for green and red colored sugar. Not as fancy, but a little easier for children to help make.

I added these cookies many years ago to my Christmas cookie baking and have been making them ever since. They're definitely worth the trouble! We also started a tradition of having them with coffee on Christmas morning along with varied nut breads. If you like cookies that are a little less sweet and more like a biscuit, you'll love these!

Cute decorative, but not super tastey. I made them into different shapes like bells, candy canes, and circular wreaths. Some members of my family really liked them and some did not.

I have been baking this cookie since 1960. I will add my recipe to this site as soon as I can In place of candied fruit, I use red and green Maraschino cherries. I cut them in half and dry them on paper towels. To me they make a prettier leaf and berry design. Also, they actually add a more flavorful taste. To the young man who felt he had 'wasted' the ingredients in the 'Rocks' he baked...You must read the times and temperatures in the recipe. It says to only bake 10-12 min. It also says it is not supposed to brown. You paint a bit of egg white on the wreath and sprinkle sugar upon it.[Yo could switch to green decorator sugar but it only calls for sanding sugar] The dough only has to set up - not brown up. Cookies that brown on top usually get iced later. You might be happier buying the pre-made sugar cookie dough at the grocery store. Just slice off a 1/2" s;ice, roll it into a 8" rope, make a wreath shape, overlapping the ends. Add the colored fruit prior to baking. If you want the tops to brown bake for the time on the package. Buy a tube of pre-made green icing. Put on a star tip and decorate your wreath. You could even substitute Redhot Cinnamon Candies for the berries. Good luck!

This is a great recipe to have for coffee and tea. One thing to add is Berliner Kranz is traditionally not a cookie. It is a whipped cream filled and topped cake with nuts something completely different than this cookie. It would be great that the name matched the recipe. Anyway good cookie whatever you name it.

I found the cookies to be very bland. I would decrease the flour and leave out the Crisco. Definitely add more orange zest maybe double the amount. I had to keep adding water to get the mixture to combine.