German easter cookie recipe - Oesterfladen?

My grandmother used to make a cookie she called oesterfladen at easter time, but I can't find anything on google that looks even close. It was a sticky dough leavened with bakers ammonia that she spread in a layer on a pan, sprinkled with vanilla sugar, and cut into bars after it was baked. It was airy, lightly sweet, kind of dry but not crunchy. Hard to describe as I haven't had it in years. Does anyone recognize this or have a recipe?

Rachelb3
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13 Comments

Nadia H.
Nadia H. April 17, 2017
That is really intriguing, I made a Sächsischer Osterfladen once from a German cookbook (in German) that is totally different from this, it is more of a German cheesecake-type cake, very moist. This recipe here fits the properties of a Fladen - flat, dry - much better. The one I made was delicious too, so now I need to look into how this came about that there are two things under the same name that are so different.
 
Maedl
Maedl April 15, 2017
I made the Osterfladen, too! I think they turned out very well--I sampled some at lunch.
 
Rachelb3
Rachelb3 April 12, 2017
so here they are. Taste is right and so is texture mostly. I rolled the dough into a 13x18 sheet pan lined with parchment and baked at 350 for 40-ish minutes. It had puffed up and was golden on top and cake tester came out clean, but when I cut hem the middle was definitely still underbaked. I think in the future I'll do a half batch so I can roll it thinner or split the dough between two pans.
 
Lindsay-Jean H.
Lindsay-Jean H. April 13, 2017
Yum! Love seeing the picture, thanks for reporting back.
 
Maedl
Maedl April 10, 2017
I googled Ascherleben and Osterfladen and came up with a transcribed book that mentions Osterfladen--I will try searching the book tomorrow to see if I can find the mention, but in case you're interested, here is the link: https://archive.org/stream/mittheilungende03hallgoog/mittheilungende03hallgoog_djvu.txt
 
Rachelb3
Rachelb3 April 12, 2017
Hoping to make these today and will post a picture if they look like I remember!
 
Maedl
Maedl April 10, 2017
Thanks so much for the recipe. It is very similar to my recipe for Springerle as far as the sugar/flour/egg ratio goes, but yours uses granulated sugar (I use powdered sugar for Springerle) and much more butter. I only use a tablespoon or so of butter in the Springerle, and that seems to be an American addition. Looking forward to trying this!
 
Maedl
Maedl April 10, 2017
It sounds interesting. 'Fladen' usually means a round loaf--or, if you're in farm country, a cow pie. What you describe sounds a bit like Springerle, but with less flour since you say the dough is sticky. Do you know what part of Germany it is from? Given that it calls for ammonia, it is an old recipe. If you don't mind sharing the recipe, I'd love to have it--and try it. I have some ammonia on hand!
 
Rachelb3
Rachelb3 April 10, 2017
She was from Aschersleben in Saxon-Anhalt. It's a much richer dough and not nearly as dry as Springerle. My mom found the recipe in her papers so I'll try it this week: 2 cups sugar, 1 lb butter, 6 eggs, 5-6 Cups flour, 1.5 Tbsp baking ammonia. Dough is chilled, rolled on a baking sheet, brushed with melted butter and vanilla sugar, baked, and cut into squares.
 
Lindsay-Jean H.
Lindsay-Jean H. April 12, 2017
Thank you for sharing the recipe Rachelb3!
 
Lindsay-Jean H.
Lindsay-Jean H. April 10, 2017
I'm sorry you haven't received an answer to this yet, I'm bumping it back up to the top in hopes of getting more eyes on it!
 
Rachelb3
Rachelb3 April 10, 2017
Thank you! My mom managed to find the recipe this past weekend in my grandmother's recipe box! Just waiting for the baker's ammonia to arrive so we can give it a try.
 
Lindsay-Jean H.
Lindsay-Jean H. April 10, 2017
Oh that's great news! You should upload it to share it with the rest of us once you give it a whirl!
 
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