Springerle
(Anise Cookies)

( You will need a wooden Springerle mold or carved rolling pin to make the designs in the dough.)

“Of all the German Christmas cookies I have made, I have done the most experimenting on the Springerle. They are actually very easy and quick to mix, roll out, stamp, and cut. Since I was never able to watch Grandma make the cookies, I just had ask my Dad about all the little steps that Grandma took from start to finish. I also had to go through trial and error to find my mistakes.

 

INGREDIENTS;

(You will need a wooden Springerle mold or carved rolling pin to make the designs in the dough.)

4 cups flour

3 cups white sugar

5 eggs

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. Anise seed

1 Tbsp. Ground Anise
(optional)

This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies

Directions:

One modern innovation is the use of non-stick spray to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or wooden mold.”

We always remember these Springerle as being great when dunked in coffee!

Here is my grandmothers Springerle Mold and Springerle Rolling Pin. Both are over 100 years old. They won't end up on Ebay. If no one wants them they will go to the grave with me.

I mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. They add better to the liquid ingredients.

1 . Whip the eggs until they are light and fluffy, either with an electric mixer or by hand, in a large mixing bowl. Use your favorite mixing bowl, one that's large enough to really mix ingredients in, so you can "get into it“ without feeling that food will fly out the sides.

Mix in all the dry ingredients, (except the Anise seed) one cup at a time, until the dough is sticky and shiny-looking. The dough looks very pretty, almost like wood that has been well sanded and varnished. I somehow lost my picture of just the shinny dough.

3 . Put the dough, still in the mixing bowl, in the refrigerator and chill thoroughly for at least 2 hours.

4 . Sprinkle a little flour on the bread-board, take a piece of dough about the size of a tennis ball, and shape it into a rectangle about 2" by 3" and 1" thick. Here I am using a mold. and I just roll it out about 1/2 inch and press it in. I find it helpful to spray the mold with a non stick spray. Some dust the mold with cornstarch.

Do the same thing with the rolling pin.

Lift up the mold and trim the sides.

Lift the Springerle carefully. I like a thin icing spatula they use for cakes.

Spray the a pan with non stick spray and sprinkle with Anise seed.

Place the cookies on the pan like this .

Put a dish towel over the pan and let it dry for a usually two days f or me.
The top needs to fully dry to keep he imprint intact.

You can see here in these shots that t he top is looking dry, not moist to the touch at all. When the tops are dry then heat the oven to 275-300 degrees F

You may want to bake one cookie to see how it turns out. If it is not completely dry or your oven is too high the imprint will totally bake out.

I bake the cookies 20 to 30 minutes. See how they have browned just slightly.

The sides and bottom spread out a bit.

Here i have trimmed the excess dough off the cookie.

I keep them in a metal cookie tin or an airtight container.
They get better with age.

These are exceptionally good with coffee. Dunk them and take a bite.
Starbucks should take note.