It's Christmas time in the city — and in the kitchen. Katrin and Chef Martin Heuser of Affäre brought back their traditional, Old World-style German holiday cookies.

These recipes aren't just restaurant specialties — they are handed-down, generational recipes from Katrin's grandmothers. Katrin and Martin said they often made them with their kids during the holiday season.

Along with Vanilla Kipferln (moons), the restaurant is also offering Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars).

Vanilla Moons

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for shaping 1 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup finely ground almonds
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (find in stores or make your own)
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a shallow bowl, combine ½ cup powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon vanilla. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir then knead together flour, ½ cup remaining powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, butter, almonds and salt until ingredients form a smooth dough.
Chill dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
With flour-dipped hands, shape dough into the shape of moons and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 8 minutes.
Remove cookies from the oven and dip into vanilla sugar. Store cooled cookies in a metal container, placing sheet of parchment in between.

If you run out of time to bake, the assorted cookies are $15 per half dozen, available in the restaurant as a cookie plate with Chantilly cream or to-go.