Christmas in Tyrol – recipes to cook

19 December 2025

Post originally written in: Deutsch

Nostalgia is as much a part of Christmas as the Christmas tree, the presents and the smell of freshly baked cookies. Hardly any other celebration is as rich in memories and cherished rituals as Christmas Eve - and that's exactly why most families serve the same dishes year after year.

Tyrolean Christmas classics

In many Tyrolean households, it's the good old noodle soup with sausages, sausages with potato salad or simply a cold platter. It may not sound particularly festive now, but it goes back to an old tradition: it's hard to imagine today, but people used to fast during Advent and eat little or no meat. The fast was only broken after Christmas mass - usually with a simple, warming sausage soup. Not an elaborate recipe, but still - thanks to the meat - something special.

Contemplation instead of stress in the kitchen

No matter how Christmas is celebrated - the focus should be on one thing above all: a cozy get-together. Nobody needs stress on this evening. For all those who don't want to spend Christmas Eve exclusively in the kitchen, pasta soup with sausages or a cold platter are the perfect meal. And of course, a sweet finish is also a must. Whether cookies, stollen or tents - Tyrolean cuisine has a lot to offer here.

Traditional, simple, delicious

A farmer friend of mine told me that she always serves Kirchtagskrapfen at Christmas. I remember the delicious lard pastry with poppy seed filling from my grandma - so I really wanted to try it myself this year. So for this blog post, I've already got myself into the kitchen and am delighted to share the recipe with you - as well as the one for my soup. I'll also tell you about a super quick winter dessert and where you can get all the ingredients locally and directly from the farmer.

Preparation:

Wash, clean and chop the vegetables.
Sauté the vegetables briefly in olive oil. Add the parsley and 3 bay leaves at the end.
Pour in 2.5-3 liters of hot water, add the last bay leaf, star anise and thyme sprig, season with salt, bring to the boil once and simmer for approx. 60 minutes.
My children like a clear soup. I therefore strain the vegetables through a sieve and season the stock with salt, pepper and nutmeg. I put the strained vegetables to one side for myself and add them back to my portion of soup later.

Variation with frankfurters:

Add the noodles to the soup and cook for 1 minute.
Meanwhile, cut the frankfurters into bite-sized slices
Turn off the heat, leave the pan on the hot plate, leave the sausages to infuse for approx. 6 minutes.

Variation with egg:

Add the pasta to the soup, cook for 1 minute.
Turn off the heat, leave the pan on the hot plate.
Add the vegetables that have been put to one side.
Just before serving, crack the eggs directly into the hot soup and leave to set gently for about 2 minutes. I love this variation.
If you don't like this, you can alternatively whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt and a little nutmeg and slowly stir the egg mixture into the gently boiling soup. Then simmer for approx. 2 minutes until the egg has set.

Ingredients for the dough: 250 g plain flour, 1 pinch of salt, 50 g butter, 1 egg yolk, 100 ml milk and 1 tablespoon of rum. elisabeth de Koekkoek © Elisabeth de Koekkoek

Ingredients for the filling: 125 ml milk, 80 g sugar, 80 g grated poppy seeds, 50 g butter, 150 g prunes, grated zest of an organic orange, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ½ teaspoon gingerbread spice. elisabeth de Koekkoek

Preparation

Salt the flour, work in the chopped butter and fold in the yolks. Add the milk and rum and knead everything into a soft dough.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces and knead each piece until it is silky smooth. Cover the dough loaves and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.
For the filling, finely puree the prunes in a blender.
Bring the milk and sugar to the boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the poppy seeds and butter, then fold in the prune purée and spices. Leave the filling to cool in the fridge.
Roll out the pastry sheets into very thin sheets on a floured work surface.
Place small heaps of filling on one sheet of dough at regular intervals (approx. 4 cm) - the easiest way to do this is with two teaspoons.
Place a second sheet of dough on top, press the gaps lightly and cut out small squares (e.g. with a pizza cutter).
Heat the clarified butter in a high-sided pan. Place the fritters upside down and baste with hot fat so that they rise nicely. Turn and fry until light brown.
Remove with a ladle, drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Tip

If you brush the dough loaves with a little neutral oil before resting, they will be easier to roll out later. The dough should also not get too cold during the resting time. If you don't like prunes, you can also use other dried fruit. My grandmother, for example, liked to use dried figs and also mixed some jam into the filling. I came across recipes with dried pears online - so there are no limits to your imagination, use whatever you like best!

Preparation

Wash the apples and cut out the cores. Mix the almonds, dates, jam, honey and cinnamon (I blended everything together in a blender to form a homogeneous mixture). Spoon the filling into the opening of the apples and press in lightly with the handle of a wooden spoon.
Place the apples in a greased baking dish and place a small piece of butter on each apple.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C top/bottom heat for approx. 25 minutes.
Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

Only the best for Christmas - shopping locally

Of course you can easily get all the ingredients for my recipes in the supermarket. But especially at Christmas, it's worth paying attention to particularly good quality. There are many farmers' markets and farm stores in and around Innsbruck where you can buy fresh, regional produce with a good feeling. Last weekend, I invited friends and family to our home for a small Advent celebration. As is the case when lots of people come together, it's not so easy to find something that everyone likes. A small buffet where everyone can take what they like is perfect. I prepared a cold platter with cheese, sausage, fresh farmhouse bread and potato salad and served baked apples for dessert.

My farm store recommendation

Many of the products came from the Steirerhof in Mieming - my personal recommendation. There you can get everything from a single source: from potatoes, fruit and vegetables to bread, pasta, eggs, dairy and meat products. The truffle cheese is particularly delicious!

Meat - regional!

It's best to get the frankfurters for the noodle soup directly from the butcher or farmer you trust - it's worth paying attention to particularly good quality when it comes to meat. I can recommend the Heinz butcher's shop in Oberhofen. Every Friday from 14:00 to 18:00 they sell directly from the farm. There is also a vending machine in the driveway where you can buy sausages and many other products around the clock.