Christmas is just around the corner. And what would Christmas be without delicious cookies, or as we say in Swiss German “Guetzli”. Do you know what “Spitzbuäbä”, “Brunsli” and “Mailänderli” are? No? These are some of the most popular Christmas cookies in Switzerland. And so that you can serve these delicacies to your family and friends, we have put together the tastiest Guetzli recipes for you. Have fun baking and enjoy!

Spitzbuäbä
Quantity | Ingredient | What to do |
250 g | butter or margarine | stir in a bowl until soft |
125 g | powdered sugar or sugar | |
2 TS | vanilla sugar | |
1 pinch | salt | add everything, stir until the mixture is clear |
1 | egg white | add to the mixture |
350 g | flour | add, to a dough, cover and refrigerate for approx. 1 hour |
- remove the dough from the refrigerator approx. 30 minutes before rolling it out
- Roll out 2 mm thick in portions between a sliced plastic bag
- Cut out biscuits 4-5 cm Ø
- Use a mould to cut out the centre of half the cookies
- Place the cookie on a baking tray lined with baking paper and cool for approx. 15 minutes
baking
6 – 8 minutes in the middle of the oven preheated to 200 degrees.
filling
- Heat 200 g jelly or jam in a small pan, stir until smooth and spread over the flat side of the cubes.
- Put on the coverli and dust with a little powdered sugar

Basler Brunsli
Ingredients
Quantity | Ingredient |
200 g | Sugar |
250 g | ground almonds |
2 big spoon | flour |
1 pinch | cinnamon |
2 | egg whites, whipped until stiff |
100 g | dark chocolate (85 % cocoa), crumbled, melting in hot water |
preparation
- Mix sugar, almonds, flour and cinnamon in a bowl
- fold in the beaten egg white
- Put the chocolate in a bowl, pour over the water and leave to stand for approx. 3 minutes
- Drain the water carefully to about 1 tablespoon, stir the chocolate until smooth, mix into the mixture.
- Roll out dough in portions between a sliced plastic bag or on a little sugar to a thickness of approx. 1 cm, loosen with a spatula
- Cut out various forms, dipping the form again and again in sugar, place on a baking tray lined with baking paper
baking
- Dry at room temperature for approx. 6 hours or overnight. Brunsli are not baked in the oven
Mailänderli
Quantity | Ingredient | what to do |
250 g | butter | stir in a bowl until soft |
225 g | sugar | |
1 pinch | salt | add |
3 | eggs | add one egg after the other, continue stirring until the mixture is clearer |
1 | lemon | untreated lemon, only grated rind |
500 g | flour | add with a spoon to form a dough, press slightly flat, cover and leave to cool for at least 2 hours |
- remove the dough from the refrigerator approx. 15 minutes before rolling out.
- roll out the dough in portions on a little flour or between a sliced plastic bag about 8 mm thick.
- cut out various shapes, place on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- cool the cookies for approx. 15 minutes
- spread thinly with egg yolk. Before baking, pull a fork with slight pressure diagonally over the egg yolk coated guetzli for a nice pattern

baking
- approx. 10 minutes in the middle of the oven preheated to 200°C
- take out, let cool on a grid
glaze
- dilute 1 egg yolk with 1 teaspoon of water and coat Mailänderli with it before baking
St. Galler Biber
Quantity | Ingredient |
100 g | honey |
1 TS | gingerbread spice |
1 | lemon |
200 g | flour |
40 g | powdered sugar |
1 TS | salt |
1 big spoon | milk |
1 big spoon | water |
ingredients for the almond filling
Quantity | Ingredient |
100 g | Sweet condensed milk |
150 g | ground almonds |
50 g | milk chocolate |
1 big spoon | water |
1 TS | cinnamon |
preparation
- rinse lime with hot water and dry it
- grate some of the skin and mix together with flour and gingerbread spice in a bowl.
- place the acacia honey, icing sugar and water in a frying pan and heat lightly while stirring constantly.
- then mix the warm mixture with the flour in the bowl.
- mix milk and salt in a glass and knead with the ingredients in the bowl to a soft dough.
- cover the dough and refrigerate for approx. 12 hours.
- roll out the dough to a thickness of approx. 7 mm and cut out 2 identical forms in each case.
- crumble the milk chocolate and chop it into small pieces.
- mix almonds, cinnamon, milk chocolate, water and condensed milk in a bowl and knead to a firm mass.
- then spread the almond filling on one piece of dough at a time from one end to the other.
- place the second identical piece of dough on top of the topping and squeeze it a little on the side of the side not covered with almond filling.
baking
- the oven is preheated to 200° degrees. The Biberli are still coated with coffee cream and baked for approx. 9 minutes
Prussiens
Quantity | Ingredient |
1 | Puff pastry rolled out |
80 g | sugar |

preparation
- preheat the oven to 220 degrees and cover a baking tray with baking paper.
- lay out the selected puff pastry, spread the sugar on top and spread with a rolling pin.
- roll up the puff pastry from both sides and cut into 5mm wide snails.
- place the Prussiens on the baking paper and bake for 10 minutes in a preheated oven until golden brown and crispy
Rahmtäfeli
Quantity | Ingredient |
40 g | butter |
1 | vanilla pod |
500 ml | cream |
450 g | sugar |
preparation
- place the baking tray upside down and cover with baking paper. Place a second baking paper on the baking tray
- put the sugar, vanilla and cream in a large pan. Bring to the boil and stir constantly with a whisk
- reduce the heat to such an extent that it “continues to burn” moderately in the pan. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens and turns brown. This can take between 30 and 45 minutes
- when the caramel mixture begins to separate from the pan, remove the pan from the heat and fold in the butter
- Mix well
- spread the caramel mixture on the tin with a spatula. Place the second baking paper on top and press with a second baking tray until the mixture is about 1 cm high
- remove the baking paper and let the mixture rest for about half an hour. Then use a sharp knife to cut the cream mousse into the desired size and shape
- allow the cream moulds to cool completely in a dry place and store in a dry tin
Learn Swiss German while baking cookies
Thanks to our free ebook you can also learn Swiss German while baking typical Swiss Guetzli. Download it today and start learning the local dialect before Christmas. We wish you every success.