Springerle Cookies for Christmas

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Every few years, Robb and I get the crazy idea to make springerle cookies.

This is always an insane and over-ambitious undertaking.

If we don't share photos of our cookies in a few days, you'll know that we weren't very successful.

My father grew up in a wealthy household in Hungary, with a staff of domestic servants. There's a story about their cook, that when she was making streudel, everyone stayed out of the way. The process was so difficult, and her swearing was so blistering that nobody wanted to cross her path until the streudel was done. Making springlerle is a lot like that.

As for my family fortunes ... all that was lost when the Russians rolled their tanks across Eastern Europe, at the end of World War II. My family was declared "enemies of the state." My father fled across a heavily fortified border. His brother spent years in a Russian prison. My grandparents lived under house arrest. It was a difficult time, to say the least. As you can imagine, I have great compassion for immigrants, and am appalled by the current xenophobic rhetoric among some American politicians.

Happy Holidays, y'all!




(Robb says, "Xeonophobic politicians should just eat a cookie, and chill the @&#$ out.")

Comments

Emily said…
I'd have to go with Robb on this one (well spoken, Sir).
Anonymous said…
I make springerles every year and love using my wooden springerle board which has been passed down for 3 generations. It doesn't have a handle like the one on the first video. -Rose

PS. I grew up near the convent in the second video in Ferdinand, Indiana. The countryside in that part of the state is beautiful- rolling hills that are heavily wooded.
Stefaneener said…
There's something hypnotic about watching people work with their hands. I like the musing on what being a craftsperson or artist means. As someone who does hand work, I really appreciate it, even though I am fairly certain springerle aren't my kind of cookie for eating.
Knit Wit said…
I lived in Freiburg, Germany for a year and springerle are an art form there. There was a shop that made them out of plain dough of some sort so that they could then be painted by the purchaser. I bought several of those that meant something personally, painted them and use them as Christmas ornaments. 25 years later they are still on my tree reminding me of my grandfather and my favorite dog from long ago.
Noreen said…
My grandmother had a recipe for springerle cookies. When she made them, they came out of the oven hard as a rock. I helped her make them some years. It was a big joke to even try to eat them the day she baked them. She would put them in a metal cookie container, with a slice of apple, for 2-3 weeks. When they came out at Xmas time, they were very tasty and chewable.
yarnlot said…
Thank you for sharing this moving story about your family. And I should use again my own rolling-pin from Strasbourg specially imprinted with springerle-motifs to bake some springerle myself...
estyn said…
Go Rob!

May the cookie gods assist your endeavors.
Angle iron and lumber in the kitchen? I love it ;) I admit, I've never made Springerle, but would love to try sometime, he almost makes it look (with the right equipment) easy. Do you have any traditional antique molds?
Anonymous said…
I make springerle cookies every christmas. I got the recipe from my grandmother, by measuring each time she thru something in the bowl!! Took a few years to perfect the recipe. I cant imagine Christmas without Springerles!! Happy Holidays! - twofreetimers

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