Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop 2020: Mandelsplitter and Pattern Giveaway
Welcome to the last day of the Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop 2020, and a big thank you to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for organizing it again. I wish I could join more blog hops but with my main business being longarm quilting I simply don’t have the time. But I didn’t want to miss the Cookie Exchange, this is my 3rd year, and I love all the delicious recipes and Christmas projects that are being shared.
Once again I will be sharing a German recipe. After German Butter Cookies in 2018 and Hazelnut Cookies last year, I am going with Mandelsplitter this year, a German chocolaty delight that requires no baking. The name translates to “slivered almonds”, and they come in all kinds of variations and are very popular in Germany. I have been making these for 30 years or so, and somehow the recipe got lost during our move to Canada. I was sure I had scanned and saved every recipe I wanted to keep but this one was nowhere to be found. Not a big problem, I remembered the amounts of chocolate and almond slivers and how to put it together.
I have to back up a bit here and admit that I don’t like to cook at all, and baking is only marginally better. It’s not that I can’t do it, I am just not loving it. I love eating though… 😀 Anyway, my husband loves to cook, and he is quite good at it, you can actually taste the love he puts into his creations. Both he and my son belong to those people who religiously follow every step in a recipe and carefully measure out each required amount. I on the other hand believe that these amounts and instructions are only suggestions which sometimes leads to tension in the kitchen, especially when my husband tries to write down one of the recipes that I have only in my head, and I can’t give him proper amounts and just say “as much as you need”. This also applies to the Mandelsplitter recipe because I honestly don’t know how much butter and honey I use. Somewhere between one and two tablespoons, I start out with one and add more when the almond slivers look too dry. Anyway, we made them last weekend, and they are delicious, even with my eyeball measurements. The taste of roasted almonds with a hint of caramelized honey, all covered in chocolate… yum!
A few words of caution/disclaimer: This is a German recipe. Germans measure only liquids by volume, solid ingredients are measured by weight. And everything is metric, of course. With the help of the internet I have provided the imperial measurements but there is no guarantee these are correct… it’s the internet after all. So if a number looks suspicious to you, please double check the math.
Quilting for others cuts into my own sewing time, and this year has been especially crazy with everybody cooped up at home, producing quilt top after quilt top. So in between getting them turned around as quickly as possible and trying to come up with a new BOM design for 2021 I did manage to make another Christmas mug rug called “Reindeer Romp”. The pattern is ready to go and will be published next week. Here is a little preview, and I am also giving away five digital copies of the pattern (English/Imperial measurements only). If you would like to win one, please leave a comment and enter the giveaway. Entries will be accepted until Monday (December 7, 2020, 11.59 PST), and I will announce the winners on Wednesday and email the patterns. Please scroll down to the end of the post for giveaway rules and guidelines.
Comment moderation is turned off for today to make it easier for you to enter the giveaway. But please don’t leave your email address in the comment text. It is not necessary to do so, and the spam protection software will kick in and not publish your comment, so it will have to be moderated after all. I will be happy to manually publish it but please keep in mind that I am in the Pacific time zone and will still be asleep when this post publishes.
Thank you for visiting today, and please make sure that you visit all the participants of this blog hop and look at their fabulous projects and mouthwatering cookies. Here is the full schedule of all four days of the event.
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Thursday, December 3
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Friday, December 4
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Giveaway Rules and Guidelines
Please take the time to read them.
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- You must leave a comment to enter the giveaway. If you don’t leave a comment, your winning entry will be ignored and cancelled.
- You are only allowed to enter once.
- The winners will be announced either on Wednesday, December 9 or Thursday, December 10, 2020.
- You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaway. Any email returned to me loses the ability to win automatically.
- I will email the digital patterns to the winners right away. Please check your spam folders if you are announced as one of the winners and didn’t receive an email. Especially Gmail likes to send anything I send straight to the spam folder.
- No purchase whatsoever is necessary.
- You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.
- All winners are chosen at random.
- All winners will be announced on the blog via the Rafflecopter entry form and a post. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.
- Odds of winning a prize are based on the total number of rafflecopter entries.
- This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
CATEGORIES: Blog Hop
TAGS: Appliqué, Christmas, Mug Rug
35 responses to “Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop 2020: Mandelsplitter and Pattern Giveaway”
Leave a Reply to SandyMay Cancel reply
I love your cure little reindeer mugrug. Thanks so much for the cookie recipe. I also, am a baker by eye. I try to follow a recipe, but, it usually goes sideways fairly quickly depending on ingredients and how I feel that day…
I am going to try making this recipe this weekend, my grandfather was german and these look delicious. The reindeer mug is adorable!
My mom would have loved your mandelsplitter recipe, I am going to try it in memory of her. I love the reindeer mugrug! So festive and cute!
What a darling Reindeer. Also excited to try your mandelsplitter recipe. Thank you.
Good morning! This german cookie recipe looks delicious. What an excellent combination – I will definitely have to try these. My grandparents were German but I don’t recall these ever being made. Thanks so much for sharing. Merry Christmas to you and your family! ~smile~ Roseanne
Great recipe, it’s time to head into the kitchen and get started on Christmas baking. I love the star quilting around the cute reindeer. Thanks for participating in this fun hop.
oh but your cookies look wonderful. thanks for sharing the recipe. what an adorable reindeer.
So glad you participated in the Virtual Cookie Exchange. My old computer literally blew up like a firecracker earlier this year causing me to lose so many bloggers that I had begun to follow. Now, I’m back on your subscribers list. Thanks for sharing! I enjoy your work.
Connie
Oh my goodness, I laughed at your post. I’m so glad I’m in good company in the cooking department. I hate cooking myself. Winging recipes has had disastrous results here. Just put me in my sewing room and I’m happy. Your little reindeer mugrug is the sweetest thing. Any way more fun to cook up than a meal in the kitchen any day! LOL!! Have a Merry Christmas.
I love your mug rug and your cookies look delicious. Thanks for sharing and having this great giveaway!!
I’ve never heard of Mandelsplitters, so I guess it will go on my to-do list because they sound delicious. Your mug rug is totally adorable and the quilting on it is fabulous! I’m lucky to have a husband who loves to cook, but he doesn’t like baking so I do my part with that. Thank you for hopping with us and sharing your Christmas love! xo
Love your little mug rug design!
My DH will love these cookies, thanks for sharing the recipe.
The mug rug is adorable and the cookies look delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!
Cute little reindeer! I can just picture it in front of Santa’s sleigh. Your recipe sounds yummy. I do not enjoy cooking but don’t mind baking as long as I can make cookies.They are one of my basic food groups besides chocolate. Thanks for sharing!
Those look delicious and I might have had them once before. My parents were in Germany after the war and brought back many German ideas, so I probably did have these! Thank you for the chance to win the adorable reindeer, too!
Ooops, that’s the wrong blog addy. I’m trying again.
Well this time I left out a letter! 3 X is the charm, right?
These treats look delicious. You are like my dad was when it comes to recipes. I remember watching him make rice pudding and bread pudding and trying to write down how much he used and instructions. My family says it tastes just like his did, so I guess I got it right or close enough.
I will follow a recipe the first time, but after that, I usually end of tweaking it to better suit me.
love reindeer and yours it just too cute – thanks for all the penguins and your recipe sounds yummy
Those cookies look easy to make and look yummy. And the reindeer is so cute!
I’m such a lover of nuts and almonds are close to the top – I know these treats will be a favorite of mine. The reindeer block is so cute – loved that you quilted that star behind him. Excellent!
Almonds and chocolate – what’s not to love? My DH is the resident chef in our household too – I hate to cook and he enjoys it so it’s a win/win for both of us. Love that wonderful little reindeer design – I can see several uses for him (her?).
Like your other patterns, this is so cute! Crossing fingers hoping I win, but if not, looking forward to when your pattern is available.
Your Mandelsplitter brought back memories for me. My father was in the Armed Forces and one year we holidayed travelling through Germany at Christmas. Stopping in a bakery my parents brought treats for all of UFO’s to share. One of those treats I’m sure were your Mandelsplitter were one of them. Thank you for sharing the recipe and the sweet little reindeer mug rug.
Your mug rug is adorable – thanks for the chance. I love that you have shared your German recipes. It’s so fun to try different cultures flavors. Thank you!
Your reindeer is so cute! And I am going to see if I have the ingredients in my cupboard to make your cookies tonight. They look so good!
The cookies look delicious and the Reindeer is adorable,
Nuts and chocolate – a beautiful combination. The reindeer
mug rug looks fabulous and will make a lovely Christmas gift. Thank you for the giveaway.
SÃ¥ sød et rensdyr – vil elske at sy den – hÃ¥ber at være heldig, tak for chancen.
Dejligt nÃ¥r manden elsker at være i køkkenet – god jul fra Danmark
That mug rug is just adorable, and your recipe sounds sooo delicious! I may just have to give these a try! Thanks for sharing and the giveaway. Oh, my hubs loves to cook and does most of the cooking for us too, leaving me more time to do what I love!! Aren’t we blessed?!! I do enjoy cooking at times though…when I want to!! Usually if we have a big meal for family to prepare we split it up. He bakes and cooks the meat, and I do all the side dishes. And he washes the dishes…even better! LOL Merry Christmas, Beatrice!
Love your reindeer mug rug, would like to make it into placemats for my grandchildren!!
Such a cute Reindeer Romp mug rug, I love it! I had quite the giggle when you mentioned you cook by ‘eye’! That is exactly how my Scottish Grandma taught me to bake with some of her favorite recipes … and I still do that to this day. Thanks for sharing your project & recipe!
The reindeer is a real cutie. Thanks for the chance to win a pattern.
I love almonds so this sounds delicious to me!
I love the reindeer. He is so cute. Thank you for opportunity to win this pattern. Also, I can’t wait to make your Mandelsplitters!
My husband’s granny came to the US from Germany when she was 16. He’ll be surprised to see these cookies on the kitchen counter. Also, I just realized that I don’t have my own holiday mug rug. Need to do something about that! Yours is so cute.