Cakespy: Berlinerkranser

Mix butter, 1 cup sugar, orange rind, and eggs thoroughly. Stir in sifted flour until fully incorporated. Chill dough.

Heat oven to 400°F. Break off small pieces of dough and roll about 8 inches long (kind of like the length of a pencil, but fatter). The recipe notes that if your dough is dry, you can let it warm up a bit more or work in a couple of drops of cream until the dough feels solid. Form each piece into a circle, leaving about a half-inch overlap on either side. Where the two ends meet, press a finger to seal the ends and form an indent (it will make a nice resting place for the candied fruit later).

Place the circles on an ungreased baking sheet.

Beat the egg white until frothy; gradually beat in the 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Brush tops with this meringue.

Note: I made some of the cookies without the meringue; I actually preferred how they tasted without. So if you'd prefer to bake them without, skip step

Press bits of candied cherries on the indent you pressed where the cookie-ends meet, to form holly berries; add little pieces of green candied citron or pineapple cut into leaf-like shapes to the sides.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until set but not brown.