There are two options here in Germany when it comes to dinner on Christmas Eve: you either cook a lot or you do not cook at all… or only the bare minimum to not let the family starve ;P In many German families it’s tradition to not (really) cook for Christmas. We love to serve simple dishes like Potato Salad with Sausages (aka. Wieners). The perfect dish to make (in my option) when you have already enough to do with decorating and the whole gift wrapping and stuff like that. Right? ;)
If a whole Christmas Stollen is too much for you, you might want to consider these Christmas Stollen Cantuccini – the miniature version of the classic Christmas treat. If you are fine with loads of candied fruits, and nuts, as well as a lot of powdered sugar and an abundance of calories… you probably gonna like these Christmas cookies. I love them and think they are a great addition to the regular Christmas cookie Lollapalooza ;)
A delicious cheesecake is always great – there’s no way to deny that, right? No matter if it’s summer or winter. If you are busy preparing other stuff for the holidays I recommend making a no-bake cheesecake like this delicious No-Bake Speculoos Cheesecake – great for a hungry crowd and easy to prepare. We all have enough to do around Christmas. No need to stay in the kitchen longer than necessary ;)
Christmas without baked apples as dessert is hard to imagine – at least here in Germany. They pop up everywhere around Christmas ;) I love the combination of apple and cinnamon and love to use that in other desserts and bakes as well. Something like this Baked Apple Cake (with sour cream), for example. Along with some mulled wine or hot apple cider… so good!
Christmas Stollens are something very German and a very common sweet treat for Christmas. Even though you will find it on many plates with Christmas cookies all over Germany – most of the Stollens are probably not homemade. It’s quite common to buy them in a store instead of baking them at home. They require a bit more work to be prepared compared to regular Christmas cookies but I think it’s worth the effort. I haven’t bought Stollen in many years ;) I don’t want to brag, but my Marzipan Christmas Stollen is one of the best Stollens out there. Beats every Stollen in the supermarket ;P
If you’re as lazy as I am (sorry, not sorry), you try to save time and avoid extra work as best as you can. No matter where. Even when baking cookies! Ok… maybe I am not really lazy… just not in the mood to do stuff several times in a row, clean up stuff several times, etc. That’s why I love me some Slice ‘n’ Bake Cookies like these here. One big bowl of dough makes two completely different batches of cookies. One batch with cashews (a bit salty) and the other batch with cranberries and some extra chocolate. That’s great, isn’t it? ;)
I love my job, but in between I love to bake and try new things in the kitchen. A lot of my friends and colleagues encourage me to bake - for a very simple reason: they get the leftovers - and it seems they like it most of the time ;) 
