Springerle and Grandmas

One amazing thing about Christmas for me is it always brings my Gandma's back to me.  Not only the flavors of their baking, but the tools they used for baking and decoration surround me.  Luckily, our families have been very generous with Grandma items and recipes.  Joe's mom made the below binder and gave a copy to each child.  It has all the recipes they all remember from Grandma Heuermann.  I bet Marilyn wishes she'd waited for the age of the computer to do this, but then it wouldn't be nearly as special!  This project didn't just entail her copying Grandma's recipes, she had to watch them being cooked to even get them on paper!

 When Grandma Rebechek passed I was lucky enough to get some of her Christmas tree bulbs.  Most years they are on the tree, but this year the old, bulbs below became my table centerpiece in a silver dish that came from another Grandma (Heuermann?  Someone tell me for sure, as I didn't label them!).  The whole season it made me smile to look at it.

That brings us to Springerle, for those of you not with a German heritage, Springerle is a small anise flavored cookie.  When I asked Joe what he wanted me to make for Christmas this year, he mentioned these - in Grandma's cookbook, of course.  Luckily I read the recipe thoroughly before starting, not always my strong point, and Joe talked to his Mom about the cookie.  She sent a more detailed recipe and said, well you need a Springerle mold, of which she had two!  Bless her heart, she shipped me the below mold, with a note that this was Grandma Heuermann's mold and she remembers her using it as far back as she can remember.  Does it get any more special?!!?

These are just little square pillows of cookies, that get harder as the days go by, but I have it on good authority, they are excellent coffee dunking cookies.

 Springerle


Whisk together thoroughly:

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 t baking powder

Beat on high speed until lightened in color

4 large eggs

Gradually add and beat until lightened in color, creamy, and thick enough that it drops in thick ribbons, about 3 minutes more:

1 2/3 cups of sugar

1 t of grated lemon zest

1 t anise extract

Stir in flour mixture until well blended and smooth.

Chill at least 1 hour.

Sprinkle a clean work surface with 1/4 cup of flour plus more when needed.  Knead in enough flour to firm the dough and make it manageable.

Divide the dough in half and place 1 portion in a sealable bag to keep from drying out.

Roll 1/4" thick lifting the dough and lightly dusting the work surface and rolling pin as necessary. Lightly dust the Springerle carved cookie mold with flour, tap off the excess.  You may have to be liberal with the flour to keep it from sticking depending on your mold.

Press on floured molds hard enough to make an imprint.  Cut the designs apart with a pastry wheel or a knife.  I used a pizza cutter.

With spatula transfer the cookies to lightly greased and floured cookie sheets about 1/2" apart.

Set the cookies aside 10 to 12 hours (overnight).  This is real, I even called Marilyn to double check.  I set them in a cool place, in my laundry room, covered with kitchen towels overnight.

Preheat oven 300 degrees. Place oven rack in the middle position

If desired sprinkle 2 to 3 T anise seeds on cookies.  The seeds didn't stick very well and I didn't want to mess the pictures up.  You may want to sprinkle them on the cookies sheet and set the cookies on top of them.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until the cookies are almost firm but not colored, 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

There you have it, I've tackled Spaetzl and Springerle, do you have any other German sp recipes I should be making?