Springerle Recipe, by Jurgen Krauss
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Easy
My aunt Olga made these for my grandmother every year, using festive embossed moulds or stamps, and I was always intrigued by the clarity of the impressed designs. Springerle require patience, so don’t cut corners when whisking the eggs or drying the biscuits overnight, otherwise they will be dense and won’t develop the typical ‘feet’ (see page 33).
Special Springerle moulds are often hand-carved from fine-grained cherry wood and can be bought online or at Christmas markets. The variety of motifs is impressive, ranging from Christmas ornaments to cartoon characters.
Make sure to buy moulds that are designed for baking, not those that are meant to be purely decorative.
Ingredients for Springerle biscuits
- 4 large eggs
- 500g icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking ammonia or soda½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 teaspoons rum
- 500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- zest of 1 lemon
- 20g aniseed
- cornflour, for dusting (optional)
- Springerle biscuit roller
How to make Springerle biscuits
- Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs on high speed, then add the icing sugar bit by bit. Once all the sugar has been added, continue whisking at high speed for about 20 minutes.
- Dissolve the baking ammonia in the rum. If you’re using bicarbonate of soda instead, add it with the flour in the next step.
- Once the egg mixture is ready, fold in the flour and lemon zest, then add the rum mixture to the bowl. The aniseed can be added at this stage, or you can sprinkle it on the baking sheet later and place the springerle on top (this gives a cleaner result).
- Cover with clingfilm and set the dough aside to rest at room temperature for about 1 hour. It should be less sticky after that. Set out 2 baking sheets and line with baking paper. Sprinkle the aniseed over the sheets, if you haven’t added it to the dough already.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until 1cm thick. If necessary, lightly dust the surface of the rolled dough with cornflour to prevent sticking, then apply the moulds or stamps to it. Using a small, sharp knife, cut neatly around each design, then transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheets. Set aside, uncovered, to dry overnight in a cool place.
- Preheat the oven to 140°C fan/gas mark 3.
- Bake the biscuits for 20–30 minutes. The surface should still be white and the designs clearly visible, but the biscuits should have risen and be supported by the characteristic pedestal foot. At this point they should still be a bit soft. Set aside to cool on the baking sheets.
- Although delicious to eat straight away, Springerle are best stored in an airtight container and left for about 3 weeks before being eaten.
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