Springerle 08

 

I made 5 batches' worth of springerle this year.  Not all in one shot - I did one double batch and one triple.

 

And in the process, I made a little change in the recipe that Bill's mom had used when she showed me how to make springerle once upon a time.

But before I get into that, I just want to put in a plug for House on the Hill - a phenomenal source for springerle molds and other cookie-related fun.  If I had gobs of money to play with, I'd spend a happy portion of it shopping on their site.

 

(the only one not from House on the Hill is that 6-sectioned, hand-carved mold)

Anyway.  Like I said, I made five batches' worth of dough.  One entire batch (or most of it) went to the forming of this large (13" diameter) cookie, which we'll probably save for Christmas Eve:

 

I'm extremely pleased with how this turned out this year - so much detail, except here and there around the edges.  Yay!

This year I reduced the amount of flour when I made some of the dough (the triple batch, in case you're keeping track) and I found it was much easier to work with as I rolled it out and pressed it into the molds. 

  

The other change was to dust the molds with confectioners' sugar instead of flour. 

The current edition of Martha Stewart Living includes a recipe for spekulaas, a spicy, gingerbread-like cookie molded very much like springerle.  In the recipe, the directions call for you to dust the molds with confectioner's sugar so that the dough won't stick in the crevices of the mold.  Now, flour serves the same purpose, but the thing with flour is that when it gets damp, it morphs into glue, and once dry, it's a pain in the butler to get out.  Sugar, on the other hand, when combined with water, melts, which makes clean-up gloriously quick and easy.  So, thanks, Martha!

 

And while you're making your springerle, don't forget to trim the edges so you've got nice neat sides.  You can make a cute little dough creature thingy with the trimmings. 

Isn't cookie baking fun?

To see my original post on baking springerle, you can go here.

For a printable version, go here.

 

Comments

[rainbowbrown]

Very nice. This a cookie love making as well. They're so damn pretty.

[Chick Voice]

This is a horribly stupid question......I just love the way these look, but both my husband and I HATE anise flavoring. Could you use the recipe with another flavoring? Or would the molds work with some other kind of dough altogether?

[Vibi]

Those are absolutely magnifiscent!
How lucky you are to have all those traditional cookies presses! WOW! The wreath and the animals are particularly beautiful!

[jayne]

Chick Voice, that's not a horribly stupid question at all. First of all, you can certainly flavor the cookies differently. Leave the anise seeds off the pan when you bake and increase the lemon zest in the recipe and there you go - gorgeous lemon cookies. You could also add a teaspoon or so of vanilla or almond extract - or any other flavor you like. And if you follow that link to the spekulaas recipe on Martha Stewart's website, you'll find a recipe that's miles away from a springerle recipe - it's more spicy and gingerbready in flavor, and if that's something you'd enjoy eating, then by all means use it with springerle molds. If you try something different, let me know, I'd love to hear how they come out!

[katie]

wow....these are georgious! So intracate! I opted for more drop cookies for my cookie list. Check it out and a giveaway here:

http://katiebarlow.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-christmas-cookie-list-and-giveaway.html

[Rachel]

Beautiful! I couldn't eat them, they're so pretty.

[Sihan]

gorgeous.. seriously.. i love the handmade moulds.. *speechless*

[Ashley Gailey]

I love springerles! My husband's aunt makes them every year for Christmas and I eat them like crazy and I don't even like anise.

[Lynne]

Oh! Is that what those little black things are? I was horribly afraid they were something alive that you had included a photo of by accident.

I didn't like to ask....;-)