St. Nicholas Day Springerles
Springerle, which means lively little horse, is the traditional cookie for Saint Nicholas's Day.
These cookies once required the efforts of a whole family since the dough must be beaten for one hour.
Today's mechanized mixers make it easier
Quaint wooden molds of birds, animals, flowers, and people stamp designs on the rolled-out dough or you can use an imprinted rolling pin to make the designs.
One ingredient, hartshorn, was originally scraped from the horns of the male deer.
Today ammonium carbonate is used, and is available from drugstores or baker's supply houses.
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp hartshorn (ammonium carbonate) or 1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 lemon, juice and grated rind
1 tablespoon anise seed
Beat eggs until foamy
Sift flour three times, sift again with sugar, hartshorn or baking soda, and salt
Combine with eggs and beat for 1 hour
Add lemon juice and rind, and anise seed, and beat again to mix thoroughly.
Roll out dough on a floured board to 1/4 inch thickness.
Press molds or carved rolling pin firmly into the dough
Cut into squares and remove with a spatula to a large firm cookie sheet or board to dry for 24 hours
Then preheat oven to 300 degrees
Transfer springerles to a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes
Do not let them brown, lower part of cookie turns yellow, top remains white
Makes 25 squares
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