EN:Christmas Cookies

Christmas cookies are small, sweet baked goods prepared during Advent for the Christmas holidays. The Czech Christmas-cookie tradition is one of the richest in the world: experienced home bakers make ten to twenty varieties, and some families make even more.

The most popular varieties include vanilla crescents, Linzer cookies, Ischler cookies, beehive cookies, bear-paw cookies, coconut macaroons, nut balls, rum balls, pracny, gingerbread cookies, tea biscuits and meringues.

Christmas-cookie baking traditionally begins on the first Sunday of Advent. The finished cookies are stored in tins or boxes lined with parchment paper and left to mature; some varieties soften and develop their full flavor after several days.