Bake

Helen Getz's Springerles

December 21, 2010
4.3
3 Ratings
  • Prep time 8 hours 10 minutes
  • Cook time 20 minutes
  • Makes about 24 cookies
Author Notes

Springerles are typically made using either springerle molds or a springerle rolling pin (but you don’t have to have them, so don’t give up). After patting (or rolling) out the dough, you use the mold or springerle rolling pin to imprint the top of the dough with shapes and designs. You cut the dough into rectangles, set the cookies on baking sheets, and then comes the odd-ball part: You let the cookies sit out overnight to dry out the dough before baking. (Is this safe? I don’t know. I’ve eaten them my whole life and I’m still here.) When you bake them, you do so at a low temperature so the cookies never brown. And after all that, you’re left with a hard, fragrant chip that’s as beautiful as a mahjong tile and a perfect partner to eggnog and warm milky tea. —Amanda Hesser

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Ingredients
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons crushed anise seed or fennel seed
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Directions
  1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or by using good ol’ elbow grease, beat the eggs and salt until light and foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar (I do about 1/4 cup at a time) until thick and cream-colored. Be patient—this takes a while.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until a dough forms. Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface. Knead it lightly for less than a minute, then pat into a rectangle 1/4-inch thick and just a little narrower than the springerle rolling pin (if you don’t have a springerle rolling pin, read on, I’ll get to this), sprinkling flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface. If you have a springerle rolling pin, roll it over the dough, firm enough to make in impression but not so firm as to flatten the dough. Cut into individual cookies, following the pattern. Transfer to the parchment lined baking sheets and let stand overnight. (If you don’t have the rolling pin, roll the dough a smidgen thinner and simply cut into 2-inch by 1 1/2-inch cookies.) Let the cookies sit out overnight, unbaked.
  3. The next day, heat the oven to 325° F. Bake the springerles for 20 minutes, rotating the pans back to front halfway through baking. Do not let the springerles color. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets. Store in an airtight container.

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Recipe by: Amanda Hesser

Before starting Food52 with Merrill, I was a food writer and editor at the New York Times. I've written several books, including "Cooking for Mr. Latte" and "The Essential New York Times Cookbook." I played myself in "Julie & Julia" -- hope you didn't blink, or you may have missed the scene! I live in Brooklyn with my husband, Tad, and twins, Walker and Addison.

12 Reviews

Holly January 29, 2016
Thanks for a second springerle recipe. My Aunt Emmy made them, and I was hooked from a little girl. These are the only food my mother ever told me I could have only what was offered - she knew I'd be in the basement emptying the jar if turned loose. I don't have Aunt Emmy's recipe, to my lifelong regret. I do have a recipe and make them every year. I do remember Aunt Emmy stored them in a stoneware jar with apple slices for a month before Christmas. Lemon zest is new to me. Going to try this recipe and start a new tradition - having some past New Year's. :)
Amanda H. January 29, 2016
Thanks for the apple slice tip!
CristieQ December 18, 2015
Hi there! I see this recipe is just a tad different from mine. Yours has zest in it. Mine doesn't. I just wonder if it was a preference of the ladies who gifted me my recipe. Mine came from sisters who made a huge platter of Old World cookies for the veterinary hospital I worked at every Christmas. I was the only one who LOVED the springerle. I didn't even know what it was other than yummy!! I finally asked for a recipe from them. I'm so very glad I did. =) Its now part of my Christmas platter of my own. Thank you Marga and Erika!!!!
Amanda H. December 18, 2015
I've never tried it with lemon zest -- bet it's good!
Maedl October 10, 2012
Was hartshorn (or baking powder) omitted from the recipe? Are the eggs the only leavening?
Maedl October 10, 2012
Was hartshorn (or baking powder) omitted from the recipe? Are the eggs the only leavening?
Amanda H. October 15, 2012
I checked with my family's recipe and also some other recipes, and while hartshorn or baking powder are traditional ingredients, not all recipes call for them. My grandmother's recipe doesn't call for it, so eggs are the only leavening.
Maedl October 15, 2012
Thanks for checking, Amanda. It's interesting that some recipes use only eggs. I wonder if those recipes are even older than the ones calling for hartshorn. Do you ever get the little feet (something on the order of a pedestal) on the Springerle you make without hartshorn?

Sorry about those additional copies of my post--looks like my finger was a little too fond of the send button!
Amanda H. October 15, 2012
I don't get the feet -- darn!
Maedl October 15, 2012
It could be that the dough doesn't have enough oomph to give it the extra boost--or perhaps that the cookies aren't dry enough when they get baked. I've let mine sit for two or three days before I thought they had lost enough moisture.

I am a bit obsessive about Springerle (and Lebkuchen, too)! I always bake them at Christmas--and without them it just wouldn't be Christmas.
Maedl October 10, 2012
Was hartshorn (or baking powder) omitted from the recipe? Are the eggs the only leavening?
Sagegreen December 21, 2010
Love!