Springerles (Part One)

Let's kick off this Christmas countdown!!

12 days until Christmas, and man-oh-man am I excited!!

Today I am presenting you to the best Christmas cookie in the history of Christmas cookies: the springerle. Springerles are anise-flavored German cookies that could be described as pillowy poofs of heaven. Since a big majority of the southern Indiana population has some German blood running through their veins, a Christmas get-together is never without this amazing treat.

Springerles dough is made, rolled out, and rolled over with a special engraved rolling pin the night before you bake them. (I'm not sure why, but I'm sure sitting overnight does something to make this wonderful cookie even more wonderful!) A special engraved rolling pin is used to stamp decorations into the dough and mark where to cut it into squares. If you don't have a handy-dandy springerle roller just lying about, you and use a circle cookie cutter to shape the cookies and stamp them with the fancy end of a small juice glass.

So let's get to this great recipe, shall we?!

Traditional Springerles

(Note: This recipe is property of a friend of my mother's. It is not my own.)

Ingredients

-2 cups powdered sugar

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup butter, melted

-2 teaspoons anise extract

-4 cups flour

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

Beat sugar and eggs on medium speed on your mixer for 15 minutes. Add butter and anise. Mix in flour and baking powder. Turn dough out onto a heavily floured surface and divide into four equal parts. Roll each part out 1/8 of an inch thick and implant design. Slice (using the lines implanted on your dough for direction) and separate cookies. Let sit overnight on a pan covered by a thin towel. The next day, bake at 280 degrees Fahrenheit for 18-19 minutes.

Your dough will probably not be a perfect rectangle, so don't be scared to cut away nasty looking edges once you've used the roller.

Just looking at this beautiful little square of dough makes my mouth water for Christmas.

I can't wait until tomorrow, when I bake these and then devour them!! 

Tomorrow I will be back to show you how these lil' guys turned out!